Tomorrow is the last day to drop with a W. If you haven't been to college or it has been a very long time, that's the last day you can just quit a class and not have bad grade figured into your GPA. Not that I'm seriously thinking of dropping the class at this point, but it is an important date to keep in mind when taking a college course.
I expect to make a B in this class. If I do, that will only be the second B I've made in an art class. I usually make As. I usually make As in a lot of stuff. Anyway, with figuring in the tests and such, which I have never had before in an art lab course, I think I might not be up to an A this semester. Not that the grade really matters, cause I don't need the credit, but I couldn't take a bad grade in the class, just in case I ever decide to go back to school for something else I can't let bad grades get figured into my GPA.
The professor is trying to be nice, and he let everyone see this set of paper with our grades on it. Unfortunately, even though he went to the trouble of doing that, we still can't tell enough to figure out our grades. So far, we've taken seven out of eleven quizzes, but only two of them were recorded on this paper. He hasn't finished grading the rest of them. The quizzes on are scantrons, and he grades those about a week late so he can grade all the classes at the same time, but then it takes him a while to grade the short essay parts. I think I can figure on an average grade of 25 out of 30, so with the lowest grade dropped I'd end up with 250 out of a possible 300 points. Then there will be a 100 point final, which I don't expect to get a good grade at all, since I elected not to buy the textbook but just borrow one from the library. Then there is 150 points for class participation. They aren't supposed to use attendance to figure part of your grade, but they get around that a bit with stuff like class participation grades. In this case it just means that you bought all the tools and such that he asked you to buy and remembered to bring them to class. But if you aren't in class you don't get credit for bringing your tools to class, so you lose points by missing a class. Anyway, he must be keeping attendance, but it wasn't marked on this sheet of paper yet, so we have no way of knowing if our class participation grade has been accurate so far. I have two finished pieces recorded in ink at 50 points each, and three more that are almost finished and recorded in pencil, and I am working on the sixth project, and the last project has been designed but not actually worked on because we've run out of boards. So out of 900 possible points, right now I have 144 recorded in ink and another 150 recorded in pencil. So I can't really figure out my final grade from that.
I am waiting on three projects to be fired. One is a pylon shaped box which has been glazed black. I don't have to do anything else to it to get my 50 points, but I would like it get done in time to put gold over it and have it re-fired. The mosaic tile project is also just waiting to be fired. I could mount the finished project on a board, but I don't have to do that to get the 50 points. Still, it would be nice to have it finished in time to do that in the lab if I want to. The tiles I made with the sea-turtle mold are mostly glazed and waiting to be fired, except for the raku tile.
I'm not sure if I've explained about raku before. First, the piece has to go through a regular bisque firing, which takes all day. Then you put a couple of coats of glaze on it. A normal glaze firing would be another all day process, but raku is quite different. The piece is fired for like two hours in a special kiln. Then, instead of waiting for the piece to cool, all but the bottom of the kiln is lifted several feet in the air while the piece is hot and orange and looks like molten glass. Then someone wearing protective eye gear and a flame retardant apron and oven-mitts than go almost to your armpits picks up the piece with tongs and puts it in a metal trash can. You want this done very quickly, while the piece is still a bit orange and extremely hot. Someone else covers the piece with shredded newspaper, and the newspaper burns and someone puts the lid on the trashcan. Then you let it cool for like an hour and clean off the ashes.
It's all a bit scary to me. So I'm not sure if we're going to pull the raku pieces ourselves or if we just have to glaze them and he'll get someone more experienced to help him with the raku firing.
The piece that I am working on now is a big seashell. We are supposed to just bisque fire it and then paint it with just regular paints and not glaze fire it. It's too early to tell, but it seems to be going okay.
The last piece is called a relief sculpture in terra cotta. I don't think of it as a sculpture at all. It's more like a really big tile with thick bumps on it. The design I've picked is a dragon's head. I would have started working on it yesterday, except that we've run out of boards and I don't have anything to put the slab of clay on. The project doesn't seem like a good idea. I don't see how the piece would ever get into the kiln without breaking. And clay that thick often breaks during firing. The piece starts with a 3/8 inch thick slab that is at least 12 x 12 or 10 x 14 inches. Mine is close to 11 x 15. That's going to be a heavy piece of clay.
Have I described an electric kiln to you? Most of them are octagonal, about as tall as your waist, and have a lid at the top. Loading the pieces as the bottom is difficult. Bending over that way isn't easy, and you're holding this fragile clay thing that someone worked on for weeks. You would think that common sense would tell you to load the tall things on the bottom, but that's not the way it works. Something about heat rising and airflow means that it is better to load the short things first, preferably things about three or four inches tall. Then you carefully place at least three little poles that are about an inch taller than the tallest piece, and then you rest a shelf on the poles. Then you load more pieces, that are maybe eight inches tall, and then place at least three nine inch poles, and then balance another shelf on top of that. Often, you work with half shelves, so you need at least six of the little poles, at least three for each half. Unless you are very tall, sometimes you have someone holding your belt-loops while you load or unload the bottom of a kiln.
I still haven't thrown anything. I keep meaning to do try something on the wheel, but I keep putting it off.
And I still haven't made a mold of the sleestak head. It's mostly dried out, which would just be terrible, but since it is just a model for a mold I think it will be okay. If this were a piece I meant to fire, and it dried before I finished it, getting it wet enough to work with again would cause little cracks which would turn into great big cracks during firing. But this is just a model. I'll spray tons of water on it, add a bit more clay here and there, work on some of the details, and get it ready to pour plaster over it. It shouldn't be a problem.
It's just that the sleestak was the main thing I wanted to do this semester. But it's not a class project, so I keep having to do other things. I meant to do two or three of them, and possibly a Martian cricket as well, and here I haven't even finished the model for the first one.
I'll post some more later.
Friday, April 13, 2007
Wednesday, April 11, 2007
Not who I used to be
Well, it is one of those Wednesdays when I hope to get a lot of work done at school and stuff like that. So I probably won't be around today. No emails, no phone calls, no blogging, etc.... If you're new, don't take it personally. If you're not new, you know the drill.
Left you something to read anyway.
(The following was originally posted on another blog on December 1st.)
Oh, I'm still a nice person. I was always a nice person who liked Star Trek and all of that. And I was always an artist, and I've been a writer since I was eleven.
But I used to be more efficient. I used to be make better use of my time.
Now I'm doing good to even know what time it is. Or even what day it is.
And the awful thing is that I think some of the problem was actually caused by going to college.
Not that I'm not glad I went to college. I like going to college. I plan to go to college again next year.
It's just that I picked up a lot of bad habits in college. Before college, I knew what was expected of me most of the time, and what I was supposed to be doing, and when I was supposed to be where. In school before college, I didn't have any problems getting things done. Everyday, I was supposed to do X amount of work. If I could do more than X amount of work in a day, I would go ahead and do it. I would finish something early, and move on to the next thing. I would get so far ahead in my work, that my parents would actually let me stay home from school once in a while. If I hadn't have gotten distracted by discovering boys, I might have really done something interesting, but that's another story.
So I had school all worked out and I was all into the whole working ahead of schedule for everything else too, until I went to college full time. And then everything became about grades and deadlines. I somehow stopped doing things when they were supposed to be done or done ahead of time, or even when I would get the most out of it. Somehow a lot of us just end up organizing our time in the order of what important things have deadlines that come first. So maybe I have math homework, but I'm not going to do the math homework because I can do that any time and I can probably catch up next week, but this week I need to study for a history exam on Friday, and I also have to read something for English. And whatever science lab work I had to do gets done at a certain time because that is when we are scheduled to be in the lab, but the rest of the homework for that class gets done here and there and I'm usually reading a paragraph or two in between classes and before lunch. We were supposed to read this chapter this week, but I didn't finish it, and we're not getting tested on it til next week, so that's okay.
Only now I can't seem to get anything done without a deadline schedule. Most everything is like math homework, and it's always here, and it can always get done later, and really no one but me will know if I didn't do it at all. The dishes can be done later. The laundry can be done later. Christmas presents must be bought at least a day before the Christmas party or it will be too late to wrap them. The bathroom can be cleaned later, but my costume must be finished before a certain event or I might as well not even go. When I have a job, I have to be there at the scheduled time, but everything else can wait.
And I never seem to get anything done at a reasonable time anymore. The laundry is not done, and I can't find anything to wear. The dishes haven't been done in a while, so now I'm afraid to go near the sink. But all of the Christmas presents I've managed to buy so far are already wrapped. The rest of the people I buy presents for are probably going to end up with gift cards at the last minute. Not because I don't want to get them something else or even because I don't have time to get them something else, but just because wandering around the mall some more won't make the perfect presents magically appear. So if I can't get them something I know they'd really like, I should get them gift cards instead. But I still have this hope that something better will occur to me, so buying the gift cards will wait until the last minute.
It's just all about the deadlines, even at Christmas.
Left you something to read anyway.
(The following was originally posted on another blog on December 1st.)
Oh, I'm still a nice person. I was always a nice person who liked Star Trek and all of that. And I was always an artist, and I've been a writer since I was eleven.
But I used to be more efficient. I used to be make better use of my time.
Now I'm doing good to even know what time it is. Or even what day it is.
And the awful thing is that I think some of the problem was actually caused by going to college.
Not that I'm not glad I went to college. I like going to college. I plan to go to college again next year.
It's just that I picked up a lot of bad habits in college. Before college, I knew what was expected of me most of the time, and what I was supposed to be doing, and when I was supposed to be where. In school before college, I didn't have any problems getting things done. Everyday, I was supposed to do X amount of work. If I could do more than X amount of work in a day, I would go ahead and do it. I would finish something early, and move on to the next thing. I would get so far ahead in my work, that my parents would actually let me stay home from school once in a while. If I hadn't have gotten distracted by discovering boys, I might have really done something interesting, but that's another story.
So I had school all worked out and I was all into the whole working ahead of schedule for everything else too, until I went to college full time. And then everything became about grades and deadlines. I somehow stopped doing things when they were supposed to be done or done ahead of time, or even when I would get the most out of it. Somehow a lot of us just end up organizing our time in the order of what important things have deadlines that come first. So maybe I have math homework, but I'm not going to do the math homework because I can do that any time and I can probably catch up next week, but this week I need to study for a history exam on Friday, and I also have to read something for English. And whatever science lab work I had to do gets done at a certain time because that is when we are scheduled to be in the lab, but the rest of the homework for that class gets done here and there and I'm usually reading a paragraph or two in between classes and before lunch. We were supposed to read this chapter this week, but I didn't finish it, and we're not getting tested on it til next week, so that's okay.
Only now I can't seem to get anything done without a deadline schedule. Most everything is like math homework, and it's always here, and it can always get done later, and really no one but me will know if I didn't do it at all. The dishes can be done later. The laundry can be done later. Christmas presents must be bought at least a day before the Christmas party or it will be too late to wrap them. The bathroom can be cleaned later, but my costume must be finished before a certain event or I might as well not even go. When I have a job, I have to be there at the scheduled time, but everything else can wait.
And I never seem to get anything done at a reasonable time anymore. The laundry is not done, and I can't find anything to wear. The dishes haven't been done in a while, so now I'm afraid to go near the sink. But all of the Christmas presents I've managed to buy so far are already wrapped. The rest of the people I buy presents for are probably going to end up with gift cards at the last minute. Not because I don't want to get them something else or even because I don't have time to get them something else, but just because wandering around the mall some more won't make the perfect presents magically appear. So if I can't get them something I know they'd really like, I should get them gift cards instead. But I still have this hope that something better will occur to me, so buying the gift cards will wait until the last minute.
It's just all about the deadlines, even at Christmas.
Tuesday, April 10, 2007
Not having the best day
One of the nice things about having your husband gone for the rest of the week is when I come home I often have a message of him saying he just called to say hello or something like that. Today, there were two such messages on the machine. I guess something about the drive this morning made him miss me.
One of the sad things about having the house to myself for a while is that when I bring home a ceramic project, I have no one to show it to.
The terra cotta plate came out of the kiln today. Colors do not always come out of the kiln like you expect them to, even if you have looked at a fired sample piece. So this plate had been dipped in an off-white or tan glaze, and I had thought of it more as off-white, but it came out of the kiln more tan than I had thought it would. Which was an improvement on the two turtles I had painted, but not so much on the water around the turtles. Still, I think it looks pretty good, and the turtles are more important to the piece than the water. Maybe someday I'll do something similar with the white glaze.
It took me about 8 hours to paint that plate. We painted the plates with stains after we glazed the plates. You have to be very careful when using the stains. It is sort of like watercolor painting. Once you've painted something, it stays there. You can't paint over your mistakes like with acrylics or oil paints.
Anyway, it seems like I've done a lot of work, but that's only the second project that I've finished. Everything else is waiting to dry or waiting to be fired or something.
Today was not such a good day in ceramics class. Getting to see the plate finished was great, but the rest of the time was kind of a waste. Well, not totally a waste. I noticed a problem with a friend's project before he poured plaster and ruined it. But I didn't get any work done except for cleaning off a shelf and getting the glaze off the bottom of my mosaic tile so it can be left out to dry.
I've been working on making my own clay from the mud in my backyard. The instructor said it now looks good enough to make something, but I'm not allowed to do class projects with it. So I meant to make an extra tile with it today. First, I kneaded the clay and got it ready to put on the slab roller. Then, for some strange reason, I set up the slab roller backwards. And it's not like I've never used the slab roller before. After I got the slab all rolled out and made the surface nice and smooth, one of the stamps I was using got stuck in the clay and made a big hole in the middle of the tile. That's just great. So I took the clay back to the wedging table and kneaded it again and but it back through the slab roller. Then I put the slab of clay on a drywall board to take it back to my table, and the board broke in half and the slab fell on the floor. There wasn't enough time to knead it and put it on the slab roller a third time. I'll just have to do that tomorrow.
In non-ceramic related news, you'll be glad to know that while a certain Easter candy contains carnauba wax, the carnauba wax adds an insignificant amount of fat.
Now we'll all sleep better tonight, won't we?
One of the sad things about having the house to myself for a while is that when I bring home a ceramic project, I have no one to show it to.
The terra cotta plate came out of the kiln today. Colors do not always come out of the kiln like you expect them to, even if you have looked at a fired sample piece. So this plate had been dipped in an off-white or tan glaze, and I had thought of it more as off-white, but it came out of the kiln more tan than I had thought it would. Which was an improvement on the two turtles I had painted, but not so much on the water around the turtles. Still, I think it looks pretty good, and the turtles are more important to the piece than the water. Maybe someday I'll do something similar with the white glaze.
It took me about 8 hours to paint that plate. We painted the plates with stains after we glazed the plates. You have to be very careful when using the stains. It is sort of like watercolor painting. Once you've painted something, it stays there. You can't paint over your mistakes like with acrylics or oil paints.
Anyway, it seems like I've done a lot of work, but that's only the second project that I've finished. Everything else is waiting to dry or waiting to be fired or something.
Today was not such a good day in ceramics class. Getting to see the plate finished was great, but the rest of the time was kind of a waste. Well, not totally a waste. I noticed a problem with a friend's project before he poured plaster and ruined it. But I didn't get any work done except for cleaning off a shelf and getting the glaze off the bottom of my mosaic tile so it can be left out to dry.
I've been working on making my own clay from the mud in my backyard. The instructor said it now looks good enough to make something, but I'm not allowed to do class projects with it. So I meant to make an extra tile with it today. First, I kneaded the clay and got it ready to put on the slab roller. Then, for some strange reason, I set up the slab roller backwards. And it's not like I've never used the slab roller before. After I got the slab all rolled out and made the surface nice and smooth, one of the stamps I was using got stuck in the clay and made a big hole in the middle of the tile. That's just great. So I took the clay back to the wedging table and kneaded it again and but it back through the slab roller. Then I put the slab of clay on a drywall board to take it back to my table, and the board broke in half and the slab fell on the floor. There wasn't enough time to knead it and put it on the slab roller a third time. I'll just have to do that tomorrow.
In non-ceramic related news, you'll be glad to know that while a certain Easter candy contains carnauba wax, the carnauba wax adds an insignificant amount of fat.
Now we'll all sleep better tonight, won't we?
Monday, April 09, 2007
Monday Moron Mechanics
I have this awful desire to blog about my husband today. Not about the whole what the hell were you thinking last year, but just why did you have to be a pain yesterday? I'm so trying to keep my mouth shut about stuff he's doing, and he has to tell me I'm a bad person for some imaginary thing I did. Most weeks we only see each other for two days, but he'll manage to ruin one of those.
According to Tara, today is kiss a stranger day. I feel like I have been married to a stranger for seventeen years. I kissed my husband today. Does that count the same as kissing a stranger?
Probably won't get to that new recipe thing either.
But never mind about all that. We are here today to talk about mechanics.
So this is what happened. I have three annoying extra expenses in March. I have my annual. And I have to register and buy tags for the car. And I have to get an inspection sticker for the car.
The annual exam we have already discussed.
The tags for the car cost about fifty-three dollars. You usually have to wait in a long line to pay your fifty-three dollars, but getting the tags is not usually a problem. If you lived somewhere else last year, or you had a different car last year, you might hit a snag, but not usually. And I had both the same car and the same address as last year, so my only thing is remembering to either bring actual cash or at least a paper check. They don't take credit cards or debit cards.
I have sort of a tradition of getting my inspection sticker before my tags. I used to worry that my old car wouldn't pass inspection. Not that I worried it wasn't safe to drive, but I worried that it wouldn't pass the emissions test. Then you have to pay for a lot of expensive useless repairs that do not actually make the car pass the emissions test, and usually the car is f***** up more after the "repairs" than before. So I used to get the inspection sticker first, just in case I finally had it with the car and decide to drive it into the lake rather than "repair" it. And I might as well do that before I spend fifty-three dollars on the tags.
But my current car is a 1996 and the emissions test is not the great headache that it was with the 1980 car. So I didn't give it much thought. I didn't run out the first week and get the inspection over with. And I didn't go the second week because I was out of town for spring break. And I didn't go the third week before I only had sixty dollars left for the week. I meant to go, but I got there just after the place had closed on Wednesday. Thursday morning I was driving by the vehicle registration place and decided to do that instead. Only four people ahead of me. Not much of a line at all.
The fourth week of March I finally took the car to an inspection place and was told that it had a few problems. I'd gotten so used to the emissions being my only problem, I kind of forgot about the rest of the test.
The windshield wipers needed to be replaced. I probably knew that, but didn't think about it being part of the test. And I had a brake light out, which now that I think about it maybe someone had mentioned it before and I just forgot about it. But those are not expensive things and I didn't think that they would take long to fix.
And the power steering fluid is leaking.
Okay. Well, I'd known that I should have that looked at, but it had been a really long time since I'd given that any thought. I'd forgotten all about it. I just got used to it not working properly. I could still drive it. I quit noticing that there was a problem.
Okay, so it is the last Thursday of March, and I take the car to have someone look at it and give me an estimate. I can either leave it there Thursday if I can have the car back Friday afternoon, or I can bring the car back on Saturday afternoon and pick it up any time before Wednesday night. I need the car until 3:00 or so on Saturday. The rest of the time I either don't need to be anywhere or I can get a ride.
They tell me to leave it Thursday.
That was a surprise. The last few times I have needed repairs they've told me to bring it back later. But that's great, if they can get it back to me Friday.
If it is just a leaky hose, they might even give it back today. They'll check all the inspection sticker stuff, check for leaks, and inspect the car.
Great. One of them drives me home.
A couple hours later they call and tell me that a pump needs to be replaced to fix the power steering, and that they've also found an oil leak. Fixing all that stuff and getting an inspection sticker will cost me just under a thousand dollars.
I do not have a thousand dollars. I have five hundred dollars, and I wasn't expecting to pay that much. If I had heard a thousand dollars earlier, I might have thought about selling the car and getting a newer one.
Okay, is this oil leak thing going to ruin the car or make the engine blow up or anything like that?
Not really. You still need to bring it in sometime, and you have to check the oil pressure a lot. But you should be okay to drive the car for a while without it. The other repairs without fixing the oil leak cost almost five hundred dollars.
Fine. I have five hundred dollars. Do the other repairs.
Should be finished about 2:00 on Friday afternoon.
2:00 on Friday passes. 3:00 on Friday passes. I call them and ask about my car.
They got the wrong part for it. They don't think I can have my car on Friday. Probably first thing Saturday morning.
That will make me late for something Saturday, but I don't know what else to do about it.
Saturday morning I call and ask about the car, but it still isn't ready. Saturday at lunch I call, but it is still not ready. At 3:00 I call, but the car is still not ready. I have totally missed ceramics class and everything else I had planned for the day. The car is still not fixed. They are still waiting on some part.
Why couldn't they have just been honest about it as soon as they knew there was a problem? I could have taken the car home Friday and brought it back Saturday before 4. I would have missed some stuff, but I still could have gone to ceramics class. What do they get out of misleading people about the repair time?
Monday morning, still no car. Two people called in sick. I spend the rest of the day with my husband, running errands that I couldn't do over the weekend without a car. Monday night there was no message on my machine about the car.
Tuesday morning my husband drove me to ceramics class. He went home for a couple of hours, and still there was no word on the car. We went to lunch and such. Still no car. This time my husband called. No luck.
About 4:00 I ask them what is going on with the car. They claim to be waiting on another part.
The car has been there since Thursday. I can't believe they are still waiting on windshield-wipers, brake lights, or a pump for the power steering fluid. And they aren't supposed to be fixing anything else. What part are they waiting on?
They'll call me back in a hour.
No one calls me in an hour. I call them back. What is going on with the car.
The car is ready, but the paperwork isn't done, and the guy that has to do that is gone for the day. But I can pick it up first thing Wednesday morning.
About nine thirty on Wednesday, someone calls to tell me I can go and get my car. My mom drives me over. I check and make sure that it has an inspection sticker before I give them any money. It cost just about five hundred dollars. On the receipt it says that the customer declined to have some repairs done. And there were three parts that were added to the bill and then later taken off the bill. Whatever.
So I'm not sure what happened. Did they fix the car by mistake and then just not want to give me back my car since I hadn't agreed to pay for the other repairs? Did they un-repair the car and take off the parts? Did they really wait four days for parts to arrive cause they forgot that I couldn't pay for them? I just hear this bit about waiting for parts so often that I don't really believe them any more. It might happen one day, but from Thursday til the next Tuesday? I don't think so.
Why won't mechanics just be honest and tell you that it will be several days before they can fix what's wrong with the car?
According to Tara, today is kiss a stranger day. I feel like I have been married to a stranger for seventeen years. I kissed my husband today. Does that count the same as kissing a stranger?
Probably won't get to that new recipe thing either.
But never mind about all that. We are here today to talk about mechanics.
So this is what happened. I have three annoying extra expenses in March. I have my annual. And I have to register and buy tags for the car. And I have to get an inspection sticker for the car.
The annual exam we have already discussed.
The tags for the car cost about fifty-three dollars. You usually have to wait in a long line to pay your fifty-three dollars, but getting the tags is not usually a problem. If you lived somewhere else last year, or you had a different car last year, you might hit a snag, but not usually. And I had both the same car and the same address as last year, so my only thing is remembering to either bring actual cash or at least a paper check. They don't take credit cards or debit cards.
I have sort of a tradition of getting my inspection sticker before my tags. I used to worry that my old car wouldn't pass inspection. Not that I worried it wasn't safe to drive, but I worried that it wouldn't pass the emissions test. Then you have to pay for a lot of expensive useless repairs that do not actually make the car pass the emissions test, and usually the car is f***** up more after the "repairs" than before. So I used to get the inspection sticker first, just in case I finally had it with the car and decide to drive it into the lake rather than "repair" it. And I might as well do that before I spend fifty-three dollars on the tags.
But my current car is a 1996 and the emissions test is not the great headache that it was with the 1980 car. So I didn't give it much thought. I didn't run out the first week and get the inspection over with. And I didn't go the second week because I was out of town for spring break. And I didn't go the third week before I only had sixty dollars left for the week. I meant to go, but I got there just after the place had closed on Wednesday. Thursday morning I was driving by the vehicle registration place and decided to do that instead. Only four people ahead of me. Not much of a line at all.
The fourth week of March I finally took the car to an inspection place and was told that it had a few problems. I'd gotten so used to the emissions being my only problem, I kind of forgot about the rest of the test.
The windshield wipers needed to be replaced. I probably knew that, but didn't think about it being part of the test. And I had a brake light out, which now that I think about it maybe someone had mentioned it before and I just forgot about it. But those are not expensive things and I didn't think that they would take long to fix.
And the power steering fluid is leaking.
Okay. Well, I'd known that I should have that looked at, but it had been a really long time since I'd given that any thought. I'd forgotten all about it. I just got used to it not working properly. I could still drive it. I quit noticing that there was a problem.
Okay, so it is the last Thursday of March, and I take the car to have someone look at it and give me an estimate. I can either leave it there Thursday if I can have the car back Friday afternoon, or I can bring the car back on Saturday afternoon and pick it up any time before Wednesday night. I need the car until 3:00 or so on Saturday. The rest of the time I either don't need to be anywhere or I can get a ride.
They tell me to leave it Thursday.
That was a surprise. The last few times I have needed repairs they've told me to bring it back later. But that's great, if they can get it back to me Friday.
If it is just a leaky hose, they might even give it back today. They'll check all the inspection sticker stuff, check for leaks, and inspect the car.
Great. One of them drives me home.
A couple hours later they call and tell me that a pump needs to be replaced to fix the power steering, and that they've also found an oil leak. Fixing all that stuff and getting an inspection sticker will cost me just under a thousand dollars.
I do not have a thousand dollars. I have five hundred dollars, and I wasn't expecting to pay that much. If I had heard a thousand dollars earlier, I might have thought about selling the car and getting a newer one.
Okay, is this oil leak thing going to ruin the car or make the engine blow up or anything like that?
Not really. You still need to bring it in sometime, and you have to check the oil pressure a lot. But you should be okay to drive the car for a while without it. The other repairs without fixing the oil leak cost almost five hundred dollars.
Fine. I have five hundred dollars. Do the other repairs.
Should be finished about 2:00 on Friday afternoon.
2:00 on Friday passes. 3:00 on Friday passes. I call them and ask about my car.
They got the wrong part for it. They don't think I can have my car on Friday. Probably first thing Saturday morning.
That will make me late for something Saturday, but I don't know what else to do about it.
Saturday morning I call and ask about the car, but it still isn't ready. Saturday at lunch I call, but it is still not ready. At 3:00 I call, but the car is still not ready. I have totally missed ceramics class and everything else I had planned for the day. The car is still not fixed. They are still waiting on some part.
Why couldn't they have just been honest about it as soon as they knew there was a problem? I could have taken the car home Friday and brought it back Saturday before 4. I would have missed some stuff, but I still could have gone to ceramics class. What do they get out of misleading people about the repair time?
Monday morning, still no car. Two people called in sick. I spend the rest of the day with my husband, running errands that I couldn't do over the weekend without a car. Monday night there was no message on my machine about the car.
Tuesday morning my husband drove me to ceramics class. He went home for a couple of hours, and still there was no word on the car. We went to lunch and such. Still no car. This time my husband called. No luck.
About 4:00 I ask them what is going on with the car. They claim to be waiting on another part.
The car has been there since Thursday. I can't believe they are still waiting on windshield-wipers, brake lights, or a pump for the power steering fluid. And they aren't supposed to be fixing anything else. What part are they waiting on?
They'll call me back in a hour.
No one calls me in an hour. I call them back. What is going on with the car.
The car is ready, but the paperwork isn't done, and the guy that has to do that is gone for the day. But I can pick it up first thing Wednesday morning.
About nine thirty on Wednesday, someone calls to tell me I can go and get my car. My mom drives me over. I check and make sure that it has an inspection sticker before I give them any money. It cost just about five hundred dollars. On the receipt it says that the customer declined to have some repairs done. And there were three parts that were added to the bill and then later taken off the bill. Whatever.
So I'm not sure what happened. Did they fix the car by mistake and then just not want to give me back my car since I hadn't agreed to pay for the other repairs? Did they un-repair the car and take off the parts? Did they really wait four days for parts to arrive cause they forgot that I couldn't pay for them? I just hear this bit about waiting for parts so often that I don't really believe them any more. It might happen one day, but from Thursday til the next Tuesday? I don't think so.
Why won't mechanics just be honest and tell you that it will be several days before they can fix what's wrong with the car?
Sunday, April 08, 2007
Talk about the weather
Ironically, this weekend we had freaky weather, so right when I was planning to post something old about the first freeze of the season, we got this last late freeze or almost freeze. It is not supposed to be cold like this in April. We are supposed to have flash floods and crap like that to deal with, but not near freezing weather. I heard that this might happen about a week ago when I was putting out tomato plants and pepper plants, but I stopped after the first two. The other ten plants are safely on top of the washing machine, and I will plant them later today or tomorrow when it is safe.
Yesterday I went to ceramics class and finished staining the terra cotta plate and underglazing the mosaic tile piece. And the terra cotta plate actually got finished in time to get loaded into the kiln yesterday, so I should have a finished piece to take home Monday or Tuesday.
The mosaic tile got glazed while it was still green. Doesn't seem like a good idea to me, but the instructor wants us to try it that way. Anyway, I finished the underglaze yesterday, and he said to go ahead and spray glaze on it. Since we are doing this step before the tile is completely dry, the glaze did not dry as quickly as I had hoped. He said to use the paint dryer, which I don't like to do anyway, but the tile was too wet to touch so I had to do something. Except that some little brown specks came out of the dryer, so I turned it off. After that I tried to get the thing to dry by waving a fan in front of it. I ended up staying an hour late. Lucky for me he was still loading the kiln or I would have had to leave before that.
Yesterday, we actually had a few snow flurries. It didn't stick, but a couple of times we looked out the window and it was pretty. Most of the day you actually had to be outside to notice the snow, but a few times it was heavy enough to see it falling. It is just an odd thing to see anyway, but I don't think I've ever seen it in April before.
(The following was originally posted on another blog on December 1st.)
As predicted, we did not do the whole Clean Sweep thing yesterday, so the house is still a mess. We did not even do one room. We did very little except watch TV.
For about a week the TV weather people had been warning us about the first freeze of the year. It was coming. Do something. Bring in your pets, cover your plants, wrap your exposed pipes, etc.... That was on the TV Wednesday night when I fell asleep, and it was still on TV the next morning when I woke up. So I poked my head out the door to see what all the fuss was about.
And it didn't look bad at all.
It had rained the night before, but the ground was just wet, not frozen. The temperature was just at thirty-two degrees, but it didn't seem to have done any damage. Not at all what I had expected to see with all the school closings and all. But, there could be patches of ice elsewhere in the Metroplex. It's not like the whole area has exactly the same temperature and conditions.
Still, it was cold, and my plan for the day was to stay inside and eat soup and drink hot chocolate.
But there is always something that changes the plan. Like I forgot that at least one of us had to go out and drop off a package. There is almost always that. And as long as we are going to go outside anyway, we might as well go out and have lunch.
Strange, but it got colder. That rarely happens. The rain and such can happen anytime, but the actual drop in temperature usually gets to the low point during the night or very early morning. So when one would think that it should be warming up, it actually dropped a few more degrees and was only twenty-eight when we went out. And by then there was sleet or freezing rain or something. Still, it doesn't seem to be sticking to the road, so it was mostly safe to drive on except over bridges. So it was safe to go to lunch.
Later, after we were safe at home, there was white stuff falling. But it didn't look like snow at all. I mean, it sort of looked like snow until you got a closer look, cause if you picked it up it didn't stick together like snow, and it wasn't soft and fluffy like snow. It was more like big grains of sand or little tiny glass beads. Then later, it did snow. So there was three layers of different stuff on the ground, but not enough of any of it to cover the grass. And now it's totally gone, except for a few patches here and there in the shadows.
Now, we rarely get a nice normal snowfall, but that was weird even for here.
Yesterday I went to ceramics class and finished staining the terra cotta plate and underglazing the mosaic tile piece. And the terra cotta plate actually got finished in time to get loaded into the kiln yesterday, so I should have a finished piece to take home Monday or Tuesday.
The mosaic tile got glazed while it was still green. Doesn't seem like a good idea to me, but the instructor wants us to try it that way. Anyway, I finished the underglaze yesterday, and he said to go ahead and spray glaze on it. Since we are doing this step before the tile is completely dry, the glaze did not dry as quickly as I had hoped. He said to use the paint dryer, which I don't like to do anyway, but the tile was too wet to touch so I had to do something. Except that some little brown specks came out of the dryer, so I turned it off. After that I tried to get the thing to dry by waving a fan in front of it. I ended up staying an hour late. Lucky for me he was still loading the kiln or I would have had to leave before that.
Yesterday, we actually had a few snow flurries. It didn't stick, but a couple of times we looked out the window and it was pretty. Most of the day you actually had to be outside to notice the snow, but a few times it was heavy enough to see it falling. It is just an odd thing to see anyway, but I don't think I've ever seen it in April before.
(The following was originally posted on another blog on December 1st.)
As predicted, we did not do the whole Clean Sweep thing yesterday, so the house is still a mess. We did not even do one room. We did very little except watch TV.
For about a week the TV weather people had been warning us about the first freeze of the year. It was coming. Do something. Bring in your pets, cover your plants, wrap your exposed pipes, etc.... That was on the TV Wednesday night when I fell asleep, and it was still on TV the next morning when I woke up. So I poked my head out the door to see what all the fuss was about.
And it didn't look bad at all.
It had rained the night before, but the ground was just wet, not frozen. The temperature was just at thirty-two degrees, but it didn't seem to have done any damage. Not at all what I had expected to see with all the school closings and all. But, there could be patches of ice elsewhere in the Metroplex. It's not like the whole area has exactly the same temperature and conditions.
Still, it was cold, and my plan for the day was to stay inside and eat soup and drink hot chocolate.
But there is always something that changes the plan. Like I forgot that at least one of us had to go out and drop off a package. There is almost always that. And as long as we are going to go outside anyway, we might as well go out and have lunch.
Strange, but it got colder. That rarely happens. The rain and such can happen anytime, but the actual drop in temperature usually gets to the low point during the night or very early morning. So when one would think that it should be warming up, it actually dropped a few more degrees and was only twenty-eight when we went out. And by then there was sleet or freezing rain or something. Still, it doesn't seem to be sticking to the road, so it was mostly safe to drive on except over bridges. So it was safe to go to lunch.
Later, after we were safe at home, there was white stuff falling. But it didn't look like snow at all. I mean, it sort of looked like snow until you got a closer look, cause if you picked it up it didn't stick together like snow, and it wasn't soft and fluffy like snow. It was more like big grains of sand or little tiny glass beads. Then later, it did snow. So there was three layers of different stuff on the ground, but not enough of any of it to cover the grass. And now it's totally gone, except for a few patches here and there in the shadows.
Now, we rarely get a nice normal snowfall, but that was weird even for here.
Saturday, April 07, 2007
Clean Sweep
According to Tara, today is when we are supposed to clean out the refrigerator and clean out from under the bed. I did about half the frig yesterday, and I'm probably not going to get to the rest of it for a while. Today I am spending most of the day at school and most of the evening with some friends.
Anyway, I always have some excuse.
(The following was originally posted in another blog on November 29th.)
My house is a total disaster. About six months ago, I almost had everything in order. The place wasn't perfect, but except for some actual remodelling that needs to be done and carpet that needs to be replaced, the end was in sight. I had gotten rid of a lot of stuff, and I knew where everything else was.
And then life happened, and the rest of that was put on hold while I tried to deal with a personal tragedy.
And then after that, we went out of town, a lot. My husband has to make a lot of short trips here and there, and he wants me to go with him most of the time. And, unless there's a really good reason to stay home, I go with him.
And on the days that we are not out of town, we somehow manage to forget to do the dishes before we set out again, not do enough laundry, not put away the non-perishables from the grocery store, not find a proper place to put the Christmas presents we've purchased, etc....
So now the place looks worse than it did before I started cleaning.
My husband is a fan of a cable show called Clean Sweep, where someone takes everything out of your house, and you separate all of the stuff into groups of things you want to keep, things that you want to donate to someone else, and things that just need to be thrown away. And then you're not allowed to take anything you want to keep back into the house until you have a proper place for it.
So my husband is always wanting to do this, but he rarely actually sets aside time to put such a thing into practice. But he's decided we need to at least do something like that, maybe just do one room at a time. And he's set aside time to get started on it. He would like to do a room tomorrow.
Of course, it will not get done tomorrow.
Tonight will be the first freeze of the year, and I really can't see either of us standing out in the cold front yard trying to decide what we really want to keep, when all we really want to do is stay inside and keep warm.
It was a nice thought, and I'm glad he really wants to help this time, but I think that the spring cleaning is actually going to have to wait for spring.
Anyway, I always have some excuse.
(The following was originally posted in another blog on November 29th.)
My house is a total disaster. About six months ago, I almost had everything in order. The place wasn't perfect, but except for some actual remodelling that needs to be done and carpet that needs to be replaced, the end was in sight. I had gotten rid of a lot of stuff, and I knew where everything else was.
And then life happened, and the rest of that was put on hold while I tried to deal with a personal tragedy.
And then after that, we went out of town, a lot. My husband has to make a lot of short trips here and there, and he wants me to go with him most of the time. And, unless there's a really good reason to stay home, I go with him.
And on the days that we are not out of town, we somehow manage to forget to do the dishes before we set out again, not do enough laundry, not put away the non-perishables from the grocery store, not find a proper place to put the Christmas presents we've purchased, etc....
So now the place looks worse than it did before I started cleaning.
My husband is a fan of a cable show called Clean Sweep, where someone takes everything out of your house, and you separate all of the stuff into groups of things you want to keep, things that you want to donate to someone else, and things that just need to be thrown away. And then you're not allowed to take anything you want to keep back into the house until you have a proper place for it.
So my husband is always wanting to do this, but he rarely actually sets aside time to put such a thing into practice. But he's decided we need to at least do something like that, maybe just do one room at a time. And he's set aside time to get started on it. He would like to do a room tomorrow.
Of course, it will not get done tomorrow.
Tonight will be the first freeze of the year, and I really can't see either of us standing out in the cold front yard trying to decide what we really want to keep, when all we really want to do is stay inside and keep warm.
It was a nice thought, and I'm glad he really wants to help this time, but I think that the spring cleaning is actually going to have to wait for spring.
Friday, April 06, 2007
Just thinking
According to Tara, today is Magic 8 Ball Day, and you are supposed to make decisions after consulting this magic device. I probably have one of those around here somewhere. Also, packed away in one of these boxes, is something like a magic 8 ball that looks like Yoda. Got him from Taco Bell a few years ago. He's very hard to read.
Probably should not participate in this anyway. I do have a very important decision to make. I just don't want to do anything about it at the moment.
Later today I should clean out the refrigerator. Actually, it is tomorrow that we are all supposed to do that, but I will be very busy tomorrow. Also, tomorrow we are supposed to clean out from under our beds. I have permission from Tara to not clean the stuff that is actually on top of the bed, but my husband will be home tonight and probably has other ideas on the subject.
I have decided to go to school today. I rarely go on Fridays, since there is only two hours of lab time available, but I need to finish something soon so I am going anyway. Maybe if I only work on one thing today I won't waste a lot of time putting away tools and such.
Yesterday I got mostly good news, and a reminder that I need to do some other stuff. Like get a cholesterol test and a mammogram. I have never had a mammogram. I am not looking forward to it and have not even made any phone calls to determine where this could be done.
Yesterday I got a comment from someone who apparently is not from this country. I know very little of geography and such, and have no idea where this came from. I wonder if the blogger just left comments on all the blogs that do not do something to make sure that an actual live person is leaving comments. Or maybe my blog was selected since both of us posted something about a recipe from Applebees. Except, now that I look at it, my blog doesn't actually say that the recipe was from Applebees. Never mind. If I actually have a new reader, welcome new reader, however you happened to get here.
I have my phone back in working order since last week, and I have my car back from the shop since Wednesday. I might blog more about one of those things on Monday. Or I might not.
Anyway, it is good to have the car back. And it actually works better. I wouldn't have bothered getting these particular repairs. I hadn't really noticed the problem, but I have to have them done to get an inspection sticker. There are other things wrong with the car, and I'd probably have spent the money on the other stuff instead, but I didn't have money for all the repairs.
The main thing that was fixed this time was the power steering. I'd forgotten that I had power steering. It just gradually went away and I got used to driving without it working properly. Now it works just fine. Power steering is wonderful stuff when it works properly.
Tomorrow I will probably post an old post from the other blog, which will remind me to participate in Tara's holiday scheduled for Sunday. Should have no trouble finding 27 things to get rid of.
Must be off to school now. Thanks for stopping by.
Probably should not participate in this anyway. I do have a very important decision to make. I just don't want to do anything about it at the moment.
Later today I should clean out the refrigerator. Actually, it is tomorrow that we are all supposed to do that, but I will be very busy tomorrow. Also, tomorrow we are supposed to clean out from under our beds. I have permission from Tara to not clean the stuff that is actually on top of the bed, but my husband will be home tonight and probably has other ideas on the subject.
I have decided to go to school today. I rarely go on Fridays, since there is only two hours of lab time available, but I need to finish something soon so I am going anyway. Maybe if I only work on one thing today I won't waste a lot of time putting away tools and such.
Yesterday I got mostly good news, and a reminder that I need to do some other stuff. Like get a cholesterol test and a mammogram. I have never had a mammogram. I am not looking forward to it and have not even made any phone calls to determine where this could be done.
Yesterday I got a comment from someone who apparently is not from this country. I know very little of geography and such, and have no idea where this came from. I wonder if the blogger just left comments on all the blogs that do not do something to make sure that an actual live person is leaving comments. Or maybe my blog was selected since both of us posted something about a recipe from Applebees. Except, now that I look at it, my blog doesn't actually say that the recipe was from Applebees. Never mind. If I actually have a new reader, welcome new reader, however you happened to get here.
I have my phone back in working order since last week, and I have my car back from the shop since Wednesday. I might blog more about one of those things on Monday. Or I might not.
Anyway, it is good to have the car back. And it actually works better. I wouldn't have bothered getting these particular repairs. I hadn't really noticed the problem, but I have to have them done to get an inspection sticker. There are other things wrong with the car, and I'd probably have spent the money on the other stuff instead, but I didn't have money for all the repairs.
The main thing that was fixed this time was the power steering. I'd forgotten that I had power steering. It just gradually went away and I got used to driving without it working properly. Now it works just fine. Power steering is wonderful stuff when it works properly.
Tomorrow I will probably post an old post from the other blog, which will remind me to participate in Tara's holiday scheduled for Sunday. Should have no trouble finding 27 things to get rid of.
Must be off to school now. Thanks for stopping by.
Thursday, April 05, 2007
Day After Thanksgiving Shopping
Well, I have skipped art club again today. With spring break and the other two meetings I skipped I have missed a whole month of meetings, which probably means I have missed more meetings than I have gone to. I really only started going to make my friend Susan happy, and I'm afraid I don't see the point of going now, even if it does make Susan happy. There's only five weeks of class left, and it is highly unlikely that I will be taking more classes anytime soon.
Anyway, I skipped today's meeting using the excuse that I have to go to run an errand in Irving. But I am sitting here for a bit instead. I don't really want to go to Irving yet. I'm going to bribe myself with something so I'll get on with it. Like after I get the errand over with I could go see a movie, or go get a taco, or go look at gardening stuff.
But I'm still sitting here.
I will get up and do it eventually. Probably soon. Sometime today so I don't have to deal with it tomorrow.
So I'm posting an old post from the other blog now. I'm doing the rest of them in order. I almost changed my mind and posted the one about the gay guy from Galaxy Fair, since we were talking about Star Trek. But I've decided he can wait a while.
(The following was originally posted on another blog on November 24th.)
This morning I got up and went shopping with the other lemmings, though I did not get up as early as most of them. No, I did not even consider getting up that early. I didn't even leave the house until after seven, spent about twenty minutes in the store, picked out a few things, grabbed a bunch of snacks and sodas, paid for all the stuff, checked the receipt, and briefly went home to unload some of the stuff and make sure that my husband was awake enough to go to work.
Not even eight o'clock yet, and according to the receipt I've saved almost seventy dollars. Got a really great deal on everything I bought, except maybe for the three packs of Dr. Pepper. And that was just at a drug store. But it went so well that I decided to go to another one and do most of it again (minus the sodas) on the way to the mall.
Then I'm wondering if I should maybe just skip the mall. I don't really "need" anything there, do I? But I've got my list, and I keep going.
By taking a side entrance and heading for the Michael's instead of the mall parking garage, I get the car parked without too much trouble. It's a nice day, so I can just walk.
There are still people hanging around the mall customer service area. I had thought I was too late for whatever early shopper thing they were doing, but there were still a lot of people waiting for something. But I decided not to stop. Even if I'm in time for whatever it is, well, I don't know what it is, and finding out would delay my getting to the stuff I actually came to get.
There are a lot of people at Bath & Body Works, but not too many. Which usually means that they've already run out of the good deals. But no, there's still plenty on the shelves and someone is bringing out more boxes. So I pick out my freebie that I'm going to get if I spend thirty dollars, and then I go and get four wallflowers, which is the big on-sale-before-noon thing that we all got the email about. So then a try a sample of this and that while I decide what to spend the rest of the thirty-bucks on. I pick up a twelve dollar hand cream, but then someone brings out some candles that are also on sale before twelve, so I buy two of them instead. Then I get in line, and there are about eight people directing traffic and such. There's a couple of people offering to massage your hands with some aromatherapy thing while you wait. Another guy hands out little samples of lip gloss. A couple of others are reminding people that if you spend thirty dollars you get this freebie thing. And they're not just trying to talk people into spending more, they're actually telling people that they're already carrying thirty dollars worth of stuff, so if they want the freebie thing just say which one and someone will go and get it for them. And then when you get to the cashier, she says that there was a limit on the sales items, but they're not going to run out before twelve, so if you want to buy two more and also get a freebie thing, someone will go and get that for you. Nice people.
So I've got my on sale wallflowers and my on sale candles and my freebie thing for spending thirty dollars and I still get to use my coupon for ten dollars off of thirty dollars. Nice. Two bags of stuff with price tags of over ninety dollars and I got all that for twenty plus tax. And I got two more coupons when I left, so I'm probably not done yet.
This is so much fun.
Next, I had to go and buy a sweater. Just a sweater, for me, to replace something that really doesn't fit right now. It was on sale for about a third of what it normally costs. This was at Sears, and I'm not going to complain, it wasn't near as bad as it could have been, but the much shorter line took a lot longer to get through, and no one offered to massage our hands, or get us a freebie, and there were no lip-gloss samples. So despite only going in to get the one thing, and only stopping to look at the one thing, I was in the Sears just as long as I was in the other store, and by the time I got out I was tired and hungry.
Well, that's okay. I'm probably pretty close to my spending limit for the day anyway. I decide to skip the rest of the list and head out. But if I'd have thought about it a little more, I'd probably have eaten in the mall and gone through the line at Bath & Body Works a second time. That was such a pleasant experience.
I stopped for lunch and noticed I was right next to an Asian supermarket. And that was something I needed anyway. I have this lame idea that I'm going to make one of those online copycat recipes of an oriental salad dressing from a restaurant my friend likes, and if it turns out okay I'm going to give him the recipe card and a bottle of all the ingredients. I don't know what else to get him that someone else hasn't already thought of. His wife is getting something from Bath & Body Works, but somehow I don't picture him happily unwrapping candles and body cream.
So I got all that shopping done before twelve, including the Asian market stuff that I had forgotten about. And then I didn't do anything useful for the rest of the day. Nice.
Anyway, I skipped today's meeting using the excuse that I have to go to run an errand in Irving. But I am sitting here for a bit instead. I don't really want to go to Irving yet. I'm going to bribe myself with something so I'll get on with it. Like after I get the errand over with I could go see a movie, or go get a taco, or go look at gardening stuff.
But I'm still sitting here.
I will get up and do it eventually. Probably soon. Sometime today so I don't have to deal with it tomorrow.
So I'm posting an old post from the other blog now. I'm doing the rest of them in order. I almost changed my mind and posted the one about the gay guy from Galaxy Fair, since we were talking about Star Trek. But I've decided he can wait a while.
(The following was originally posted on another blog on November 24th.)
This morning I got up and went shopping with the other lemmings, though I did not get up as early as most of them. No, I did not even consider getting up that early. I didn't even leave the house until after seven, spent about twenty minutes in the store, picked out a few things, grabbed a bunch of snacks and sodas, paid for all the stuff, checked the receipt, and briefly went home to unload some of the stuff and make sure that my husband was awake enough to go to work.
Not even eight o'clock yet, and according to the receipt I've saved almost seventy dollars. Got a really great deal on everything I bought, except maybe for the three packs of Dr. Pepper. And that was just at a drug store. But it went so well that I decided to go to another one and do most of it again (minus the sodas) on the way to the mall.
Then I'm wondering if I should maybe just skip the mall. I don't really "need" anything there, do I? But I've got my list, and I keep going.
By taking a side entrance and heading for the Michael's instead of the mall parking garage, I get the car parked without too much trouble. It's a nice day, so I can just walk.
There are still people hanging around the mall customer service area. I had thought I was too late for whatever early shopper thing they were doing, but there were still a lot of people waiting for something. But I decided not to stop. Even if I'm in time for whatever it is, well, I don't know what it is, and finding out would delay my getting to the stuff I actually came to get.
There are a lot of people at Bath & Body Works, but not too many. Which usually means that they've already run out of the good deals. But no, there's still plenty on the shelves and someone is bringing out more boxes. So I pick out my freebie that I'm going to get if I spend thirty dollars, and then I go and get four wallflowers, which is the big on-sale-before-noon thing that we all got the email about. So then a try a sample of this and that while I decide what to spend the rest of the thirty-bucks on. I pick up a twelve dollar hand cream, but then someone brings out some candles that are also on sale before twelve, so I buy two of them instead. Then I get in line, and there are about eight people directing traffic and such. There's a couple of people offering to massage your hands with some aromatherapy thing while you wait. Another guy hands out little samples of lip gloss. A couple of others are reminding people that if you spend thirty dollars you get this freebie thing. And they're not just trying to talk people into spending more, they're actually telling people that they're already carrying thirty dollars worth of stuff, so if they want the freebie thing just say which one and someone will go and get it for them. And then when you get to the cashier, she says that there was a limit on the sales items, but they're not going to run out before twelve, so if you want to buy two more and also get a freebie thing, someone will go and get that for you. Nice people.
So I've got my on sale wallflowers and my on sale candles and my freebie thing for spending thirty dollars and I still get to use my coupon for ten dollars off of thirty dollars. Nice. Two bags of stuff with price tags of over ninety dollars and I got all that for twenty plus tax. And I got two more coupons when I left, so I'm probably not done yet.
This is so much fun.
Next, I had to go and buy a sweater. Just a sweater, for me, to replace something that really doesn't fit right now. It was on sale for about a third of what it normally costs. This was at Sears, and I'm not going to complain, it wasn't near as bad as it could have been, but the much shorter line took a lot longer to get through, and no one offered to massage our hands, or get us a freebie, and there were no lip-gloss samples. So despite only going in to get the one thing, and only stopping to look at the one thing, I was in the Sears just as long as I was in the other store, and by the time I got out I was tired and hungry.
Well, that's okay. I'm probably pretty close to my spending limit for the day anyway. I decide to skip the rest of the list and head out. But if I'd have thought about it a little more, I'd probably have eaten in the mall and gone through the line at Bath & Body Works a second time. That was such a pleasant experience.
I stopped for lunch and noticed I was right next to an Asian supermarket. And that was something I needed anyway. I have this lame idea that I'm going to make one of those online copycat recipes of an oriental salad dressing from a restaurant my friend likes, and if it turns out okay I'm going to give him the recipe card and a bottle of all the ingredients. I don't know what else to get him that someone else hasn't already thought of. His wife is getting something from Bath & Body Works, but somehow I don't picture him happily unwrapping candles and body cream.
So I got all that shopping done before twelve, including the Asian market stuff that I had forgotten about. And then I didn't do anything useful for the rest of the day. Nice.
Why you are not in my blogroll
Maybe you'll notice that I just don't have one. It's not because I don't like you. More like, I don't care about the computer that much.
I like writing. I like reading. I don't like trying to figure out how to make things work. So I haven't figured out blogroll and linking and such yet. Maybe I'll get around to it later. Maybe I won't.
It's pretty much the same with the pictures. I thought I had finally figured it out, but the next post that I put pictures in had all of the pictures in the opposite order than I wanted. So the pictures were next to things that I wrote about other pictures, so it made no damn sense. So I didn't publish that post, and I've given up on the pictures for now.
There are other examples of my frustrations with computers. Another time perhaps.
Anyway, with a couple of exceptions, if you've ever left a comment on my blog, I try to check on your blog everyday. There are a few others that I check on everyday, and there are a few more that I read about once a week or so. I read every day that I have access to the computer, except those few Wednesdays that I am busy at school. And that goes for weekends too, if my husband will get off the thing long enough for me to read anything. And I try to post on Saturday and Sunday too, so some of you will have extra stuff to read on Monday.
So I'm sorry if I upset anyone. Yes, I know that it is nice to put up a link to your blog after you've put up a link to mine. I'm just not up to that right now.
And welcome to my new readers. Even the ones who aren't into Star Trek.
I like writing. I like reading. I don't like trying to figure out how to make things work. So I haven't figured out blogroll and linking and such yet. Maybe I'll get around to it later. Maybe I won't.
It's pretty much the same with the pictures. I thought I had finally figured it out, but the next post that I put pictures in had all of the pictures in the opposite order than I wanted. So the pictures were next to things that I wrote about other pictures, so it made no damn sense. So I didn't publish that post, and I've given up on the pictures for now.
There are other examples of my frustrations with computers. Another time perhaps.
Anyway, with a couple of exceptions, if you've ever left a comment on my blog, I try to check on your blog everyday. There are a few others that I check on everyday, and there are a few more that I read about once a week or so. I read every day that I have access to the computer, except those few Wednesdays that I am busy at school. And that goes for weekends too, if my husband will get off the thing long enough for me to read anything. And I try to post on Saturday and Sunday too, so some of you will have extra stuff to read on Monday.
So I'm sorry if I upset anyone. Yes, I know that it is nice to put up a link to your blog after you've put up a link to mine. I'm just not up to that right now.
And welcome to my new readers. Even the ones who aren't into Star Trek.
Wednesday, April 04, 2007
The most hated man on Star Trek
According to Tara, today is Star Trek villain day, or something like that. Anyway, it is on her blog, and on Dmarks' blog. So I have had to give this some serious thought.
Dmarks makes a lot of good points. But, he has already made them, so there's not much point in my repeating them.
Khan is a really good villain. But we've probably blogged enough about him for a while.
There are a lot of really good villains on Star Trek. But even the villains are like family now. Turns out most of the Klingon's were old drinking buddies of Dax anyway.
Who just really makes me sick in the Star Trek universe?
I think for today I'll pick, Kevin O'Riley.
Let me refresh you're memory a bit. About forty years ago, on an episode called "The Naked Time" the Enterprise found a bunch of frozen dead people. Seems like they just all went crazy and killed each other. Maybe someone even turned off life-support, or maybe it just went off by itself after the crew died. Anyway, it was not a pretty picture.
A bit after the Enterprise crew found the dead crazy people, a few people on the Enterprise started acting weird. Someone killed himself. Sulu started chasing people with a sword.
Most of the crew was exposed to an illness that makes people appear drunk. They don't think clearly. They get very emotional. They make totally irrational decisions.
Kevin O'Riley locked himself in the engine room and started playing with the equipment. He decided to turn off the engines.
So why did I decide to pick poor Kevin O'Riley?
I have liked Star Trek my whole life. So has my brother. My dad was one of the people who watched Star Trek when it first aired, and decided he really liked it, even if it wasn't quite "serious" science fiction.
My mother decided we were all from a different planet. We shouldn't waste are time watched TV. We needed to do important stuff in the here and now, like clean up our rooms. Watching reruns of Star Trek was just a total waste of time, and it was all about dumb stuff anyway.
So after me and my brother had cleaned our rooms, we would watch reruns of Star Trek anyway. And once in a great while, my mother would sit with us, and try to point out that it was all a waste of time, and comment on what was going on. But usually she wouldn't try very hard. She didn't have any good arguments. And how can you not think that Zefram Cochrane and the Companion on the episode Metamorphosis aren't just the most romantic couple ever in the history of romantic stories? And how can you not watch Spock and his father argue again every time Journey to Babel comes on? How can you just not get any of it?
So she mostly left us alone for a while.
Enter Mr. O'Riley.
Apparently drunk Mr. O'Riley, who has locked himself in the engine room, turned off the engines, and has decided to sing..."I'll take you home again Kathleen...."
My mother decided to sing with him.
My mother decided to sing some more, any time that we were watching Star Trek. It didn't even have to be the same episode. It just had to be Star Trek.
I hate Kevin O'Riley.
Dmarks makes a lot of good points. But, he has already made them, so there's not much point in my repeating them.
Khan is a really good villain. But we've probably blogged enough about him for a while.
There are a lot of really good villains on Star Trek. But even the villains are like family now. Turns out most of the Klingon's were old drinking buddies of Dax anyway.
Who just really makes me sick in the Star Trek universe?
I think for today I'll pick, Kevin O'Riley.
Let me refresh you're memory a bit. About forty years ago, on an episode called "The Naked Time" the Enterprise found a bunch of frozen dead people. Seems like they just all went crazy and killed each other. Maybe someone even turned off life-support, or maybe it just went off by itself after the crew died. Anyway, it was not a pretty picture.
A bit after the Enterprise crew found the dead crazy people, a few people on the Enterprise started acting weird. Someone killed himself. Sulu started chasing people with a sword.
Most of the crew was exposed to an illness that makes people appear drunk. They don't think clearly. They get very emotional. They make totally irrational decisions.
Kevin O'Riley locked himself in the engine room and started playing with the equipment. He decided to turn off the engines.
So why did I decide to pick poor Kevin O'Riley?
I have liked Star Trek my whole life. So has my brother. My dad was one of the people who watched Star Trek when it first aired, and decided he really liked it, even if it wasn't quite "serious" science fiction.
My mother decided we were all from a different planet. We shouldn't waste are time watched TV. We needed to do important stuff in the here and now, like clean up our rooms. Watching reruns of Star Trek was just a total waste of time, and it was all about dumb stuff anyway.
So after me and my brother had cleaned our rooms, we would watch reruns of Star Trek anyway. And once in a great while, my mother would sit with us, and try to point out that it was all a waste of time, and comment on what was going on. But usually she wouldn't try very hard. She didn't have any good arguments. And how can you not think that Zefram Cochrane and the Companion on the episode Metamorphosis aren't just the most romantic couple ever in the history of romantic stories? And how can you not watch Spock and his father argue again every time Journey to Babel comes on? How can you just not get any of it?
So she mostly left us alone for a while.
Enter Mr. O'Riley.
Apparently drunk Mr. O'Riley, who has locked himself in the engine room, turned off the engines, and has decided to sing..."I'll take you home again Kathleen...."
My mother decided to sing with him.
My mother decided to sing some more, any time that we were watching Star Trek. It didn't even have to be the same episode. It just had to be Star Trek.
I hate Kevin O'Riley.
Tuesday, April 03, 2007
The busiest travel day of the year
I'm sorry that more of you didn't like the story about the drunk Tom Cruise guy I posted over the weekend. Anyway, I'm going to be very busy today and I don't have time to come up with anything brilliant. So I'm going to transfer an old post from the other blog. I think from now on, I will just post the rest of those in chronological order, instead of trying to find something relevent to something someone else posted.
(the following was originally posted on another blog on November 23rd)
Yesterday was the busiest travel day of the year.
Well, that's what the day before Thanksgiving is supposed to be. But I hardly ever travel on that day, because most of my family lives here. In fact, when I was little, one set of grandparents lived an hour away, and the other set lived about two or three hours away, so that we did our traveling on the holiday itself and didn't have to deal with any traffic at all.
But after my husband got a job that involved a lot of travel (mostly in Texas), I did have to deal with the dreaded Wednesday before traffic a couple of times. And yesterday was one of those times. But yesterday's traffic wasn't bad at all, at least where we were.
So Monday we had to drive a few hours away, to the place I spent the first eleven years of my life. There's nothing to do there. It is quite boring. Next month, there will be Christmas lights to look at, but this week, nothing.
Still, I went anyway, to spend a little time with my husband. We drove by my old house. The people who live there now are really into the spirit of things and already have a lot of Christmas decorations up. The two front yard trees are gone now. I wanted to look in the back yard and see if the plum tree was still there and if the storm shelter was made good use of, but I didn't look. Nor did I look in the backyard of the house across the street to see if the Fort was still there. I think it was, maybe I just couldn't see it because it was painted a different color.
We had lunch at The Glass Kitchen, the world's only drive-thru where you can actually understand what is being said because you talk to a real person instead of a microphone. It has never made sense to me why everyone does not have this same design. It wasn't quite as good as I remembered from my last stop in town (I should have asked for a chili-cheeseburger, but those are so messy), and I'm always surprised how small it looks. When I was a kid it seemed like a really big square building, like a Walmart, but no, it's just a little hamburger stand.
After working only two days, we headed home, and stopped at a small town that we used to spend a lot of time at about ten years ago. The Walmart my husband did business from was closed, replaced by a Supercenter outside of town. A Taco Bell/KFC had been added, but it was closed for renovations. More of the little shops on Main street had closed down, and very few of those remaining where open yesterday. We stopped at the soda fountain, and were told that the two old antique dealers from next door finally moved to California, and they both died soon after.
Not much to do there either, so after I finished my ice cream we got going again. There was hardly any traffic until we were almost home. We got to I-35, and there was the traffic waiting for us. Only I couldn't tell that much of it was really from out-of-town travelers. At some point we thought, lets just go ahead and get off at this exit and do a little shopping. And there everyone was, going to the mall. We didn't actually go to the mall, but a shopping center nearby. We mostly just looked at a few things and stopped for lunch.
So it was not a bad day before Thanksgiving, but it wasn't a really fun day off either. Now I'm off to decide which movie to see after we eat, then plan out tomorrow's shopping.
Happy Thanksgiving
(the following was originally posted on another blog on November 23rd)
Yesterday was the busiest travel day of the year.
Well, that's what the day before Thanksgiving is supposed to be. But I hardly ever travel on that day, because most of my family lives here. In fact, when I was little, one set of grandparents lived an hour away, and the other set lived about two or three hours away, so that we did our traveling on the holiday itself and didn't have to deal with any traffic at all.
But after my husband got a job that involved a lot of travel (mostly in Texas), I did have to deal with the dreaded Wednesday before traffic a couple of times. And yesterday was one of those times. But yesterday's traffic wasn't bad at all, at least where we were.
So Monday we had to drive a few hours away, to the place I spent the first eleven years of my life. There's nothing to do there. It is quite boring. Next month, there will be Christmas lights to look at, but this week, nothing.
Still, I went anyway, to spend a little time with my husband. We drove by my old house. The people who live there now are really into the spirit of things and already have a lot of Christmas decorations up. The two front yard trees are gone now. I wanted to look in the back yard and see if the plum tree was still there and if the storm shelter was made good use of, but I didn't look. Nor did I look in the backyard of the house across the street to see if the Fort was still there. I think it was, maybe I just couldn't see it because it was painted a different color.
We had lunch at The Glass Kitchen, the world's only drive-thru where you can actually understand what is being said because you talk to a real person instead of a microphone. It has never made sense to me why everyone does not have this same design. It wasn't quite as good as I remembered from my last stop in town (I should have asked for a chili-cheeseburger, but those are so messy), and I'm always surprised how small it looks. When I was a kid it seemed like a really big square building, like a Walmart, but no, it's just a little hamburger stand.
After working only two days, we headed home, and stopped at a small town that we used to spend a lot of time at about ten years ago. The Walmart my husband did business from was closed, replaced by a Supercenter outside of town. A Taco Bell/KFC had been added, but it was closed for renovations. More of the little shops on Main street had closed down, and very few of those remaining where open yesterday. We stopped at the soda fountain, and were told that the two old antique dealers from next door finally moved to California, and they both died soon after.
Not much to do there either, so after I finished my ice cream we got going again. There was hardly any traffic until we were almost home. We got to I-35, and there was the traffic waiting for us. Only I couldn't tell that much of it was really from out-of-town travelers. At some point we thought, lets just go ahead and get off at this exit and do a little shopping. And there everyone was, going to the mall. We didn't actually go to the mall, but a shopping center nearby. We mostly just looked at a few things and stopped for lunch.
So it was not a bad day before Thanksgiving, but it wasn't a really fun day off either. Now I'm off to decide which movie to see after we eat, then plan out tomorrow's shopping.
Happy Thanksgiving
Monday, April 02, 2007
Monday Morons
Well, I was sitting here debating on what to write about, and then I remembered that it was Monday and I'd already said what I would write about.
In case you forgot, last Monday my husband's boss called him to tell him that he didn't have to go into work that day. The day's schedule had been cancelled. That would have been nice to know, except that my husband had already left for work two hours before that. My husband works out of town a lot, and that week he was working in Paris (Texas, so don't get excited). He didn't leave for work at the crack of dawn or anything, but he certainly had to leave before lunch time when his boss called. And you would think that his boss would know that.
Anyway, someone in the company knew that the schedule was cancelled like on Friday (or perhaps earlier), but they didn't forward the information to the right person, so no one bothered to tell my husband or correct the schedule or any of that stuff. The photographers all have to work on Saturdays, but other people in the company take the whole weekend off, so no one bothered to mention the schedule change on Saturday either. Most of them have Sunday off, most of the time, so still no mention of the change. My husband usually doesn't work on Mondays, to make up for the fact that he usually has to work on Saturdays, but they expected to be so busy in Paris that he was asked to work an extra day.
Turns out that they are not that busy in Paris. Worse, they just aren't making any money in Paris. So when they found out that they didn't have to work on Monday, most of them were like that's no big deal, cause they usually don't work on Monday anyway.
Except that no one remembered to tell the photographer until lunchtime, and since the job starts right after lunch, obviously he had to leave about two or three hours before that.
People are always calling here, asking for my husband, when he is at work. And they are from the company that he works for, so they should already know that he is at work.
"I thought this was his cell phone."
No. This is not his cell phone. He does not have a cell phone. That is why on the forms he filled out the cell phone part is blank.
"Well, he needs to get a cell phone for situations like this."
Fine. Why don't you buy him a cell phone? If he needs a business phone, the business should pay for it.
"Well, what if there was an emergency? Don't you want an emergency phone?"
Yes, I would like an emergency phone. I can't afford one. My mom finally bought me one for Christmas. My husband still doesn't have one.
And it is an emergency phone. That means it is for emergencies. I use it about once a week or so, for one or two minutes, just to make sure that it still works. It is not a business phone. I will not be giving you the number. If my husband gets an emergency phone, he will not be giving you the number either.
Not that it would have helped in this case anyway. Even if he had a business phone, he wouldn't be trying to talk on it while he's driving. If the phone rang, he'd just let it ring. He's not going to risk having a wreck just to answer the cell phone. You could leave him a message for the next time he had to stop. But he was nearly in Paris when you called anyway. What was he supposed to do? Turn around and drive home, and then turn around and drive back the next morning. That would have been between almost nine hours driving.
The first few times someone from work called looking for him, I got upset. I thought that something had happened to my husband. If he left for work hours ago, and they call his house looking for him, then he must be missing, right? People from work don't call home unless someone didn't make it to work, right?
But instead I got someone explaining how they thought it was a cell phone. The first couple of times sort of made sense, but after that you'd think that someone would make a note that this is not a cell phone and my husband does not have a cell phone. But no, someone does not do that. So I used to get a call about once a week from someone at work wanting to talk to my husband. Even the ones who knew he didn't have a cell kept calling. "When you hear from him would you give him a message?" Sure, okay. But even that was dumb. They knew where he was going. Surely they could call where he was going and talk to him before I would.
They do other dumb stuff like that. Traveling photographers tend to get a lot of packages from work. A lot of it is important stuff that they need. Sometimes it is dumb stuff, like a box of pens. They spend more on the postage for sending pens that it would cost to go to the store and buy pens. Why don't they just tell them to buy some pens and add them to the weekly expense report? But some of it is important stuff, or at least stuff that really does have to come from the company, stuff that they couldn't just go buy at Walmart.
And where do they send these packages?
Well, they send them here, of course.
What part of traveling photographer do you not understand? He isn't here. He isn't going to be here until late Saturday night. And if I had a life, I wouldn't be here either.
Why don't you send the packages to the place where he's going to take the pictures? If I wasn't home most of the time, the packages would sit outside all day. And if he wasn't married, the packages would sit outside all week. How many packages do you think would still be here by Saturday night if I wasn't here to bring them inside?
Monday of this week was cancelled too. So was Tuesday. But at least they told him about like last Wednesday.
He didn't much care for Paris anyway.
In case you forgot, last Monday my husband's boss called him to tell him that he didn't have to go into work that day. The day's schedule had been cancelled. That would have been nice to know, except that my husband had already left for work two hours before that. My husband works out of town a lot, and that week he was working in Paris (Texas, so don't get excited). He didn't leave for work at the crack of dawn or anything, but he certainly had to leave before lunch time when his boss called. And you would think that his boss would know that.
Anyway, someone in the company knew that the schedule was cancelled like on Friday (or perhaps earlier), but they didn't forward the information to the right person, so no one bothered to tell my husband or correct the schedule or any of that stuff. The photographers all have to work on Saturdays, but other people in the company take the whole weekend off, so no one bothered to mention the schedule change on Saturday either. Most of them have Sunday off, most of the time, so still no mention of the change. My husband usually doesn't work on Mondays, to make up for the fact that he usually has to work on Saturdays, but they expected to be so busy in Paris that he was asked to work an extra day.
Turns out that they are not that busy in Paris. Worse, they just aren't making any money in Paris. So when they found out that they didn't have to work on Monday, most of them were like that's no big deal, cause they usually don't work on Monday anyway.
Except that no one remembered to tell the photographer until lunchtime, and since the job starts right after lunch, obviously he had to leave about two or three hours before that.
People are always calling here, asking for my husband, when he is at work. And they are from the company that he works for, so they should already know that he is at work.
"I thought this was his cell phone."
No. This is not his cell phone. He does not have a cell phone. That is why on the forms he filled out the cell phone part is blank.
"Well, he needs to get a cell phone for situations like this."
Fine. Why don't you buy him a cell phone? If he needs a business phone, the business should pay for it.
"Well, what if there was an emergency? Don't you want an emergency phone?"
Yes, I would like an emergency phone. I can't afford one. My mom finally bought me one for Christmas. My husband still doesn't have one.
And it is an emergency phone. That means it is for emergencies. I use it about once a week or so, for one or two minutes, just to make sure that it still works. It is not a business phone. I will not be giving you the number. If my husband gets an emergency phone, he will not be giving you the number either.
Not that it would have helped in this case anyway. Even if he had a business phone, he wouldn't be trying to talk on it while he's driving. If the phone rang, he'd just let it ring. He's not going to risk having a wreck just to answer the cell phone. You could leave him a message for the next time he had to stop. But he was nearly in Paris when you called anyway. What was he supposed to do? Turn around and drive home, and then turn around and drive back the next morning. That would have been between almost nine hours driving.
The first few times someone from work called looking for him, I got upset. I thought that something had happened to my husband. If he left for work hours ago, and they call his house looking for him, then he must be missing, right? People from work don't call home unless someone didn't make it to work, right?
But instead I got someone explaining how they thought it was a cell phone. The first couple of times sort of made sense, but after that you'd think that someone would make a note that this is not a cell phone and my husband does not have a cell phone. But no, someone does not do that. So I used to get a call about once a week from someone at work wanting to talk to my husband. Even the ones who knew he didn't have a cell kept calling. "When you hear from him would you give him a message?" Sure, okay. But even that was dumb. They knew where he was going. Surely they could call where he was going and talk to him before I would.
They do other dumb stuff like that. Traveling photographers tend to get a lot of packages from work. A lot of it is important stuff that they need. Sometimes it is dumb stuff, like a box of pens. They spend more on the postage for sending pens that it would cost to go to the store and buy pens. Why don't they just tell them to buy some pens and add them to the weekly expense report? But some of it is important stuff, or at least stuff that really does have to come from the company, stuff that they couldn't just go buy at Walmart.
And where do they send these packages?
Well, they send them here, of course.
What part of traveling photographer do you not understand? He isn't here. He isn't going to be here until late Saturday night. And if I had a life, I wouldn't be here either.
Why don't you send the packages to the place where he's going to take the pictures? If I wasn't home most of the time, the packages would sit outside all day. And if he wasn't married, the packages would sit outside all week. How many packages do you think would still be here by Saturday night if I wasn't here to bring them inside?
Monday of this week was cancelled too. So was Tuesday. But at least they told him about like last Wednesday.
He didn't much care for Paris anyway.
Saturday, March 31, 2007
Day Break
Basically, I am wondering if anyone knows what happened to the show. It was on ABC, and it was supposed to be on for thirteen weeks, while we waited for new episodes of LOST. I really liked the show. After like five episodes, it was replaced by a couple of half hour comedies that I don't think anyone is watching.
I don't think many of my readers watched the show, so I thought I'd post it on the weekend when most of your aren't reading anyway. Probably you'd be more interested in the previous post about drunks.
But, just in case, here it is. And I've included the two comments from the other blog.
(the following was originally posted on another blog on November 18th)
I thought Wednesday night's Daybreak was an excellent two hours of television.
Unfortunately, the other people I would normally discuss such things with somehow managed to miss the show.
I can't understand why they didn't watch it. It was great. Similar in some ways to Groundhog Day, the equally amusing Stargate episode Windows of Opportunity, and the more serious but lesser known 12:01 (which I am told is quite different from the 12:01 short story, in which the main character keeps repeating the same hour); it was a time loop story, in which the day keep repeating itself and only the main character knows it.
In the first two hours of the series, the main character goes through the original day and three repeats. In the original day he saves a dumb pedestrian, gets framed for murder, finds out his brother-in-law is beating his sister, gets set up by his partner, gets arrested, watches his girlfriend and alibi get killed, is told that he will have to confess to the murder he's accused of if he doesn't want his family similarly killed, is beaten by thugs, and is then sedated. The first repeat of the day is very similar, except that he doesn't save the pedestrian, he tries to warn a few people about what is going to happen but they don't believe him, and he pushes his wife-beating brother-in-law into a glass display case. The third time around he doesn't bother with much of anything except trying to get out of town with his girlfriend, which doesn't go as planned, and the bad guys follow and shoot at them. He gets wounded in the shoulder, and there's blood everywhere, but luckily his girlfriend is an ER nurse and she patches him up. The cops catch up to them at a motel, and his partner seems like she is setting him up again, but this time she is obviously just there to try and help him, which then gets her killed. He and his girlfriend get away, and he drives all night.
And somehow is back in his bed about six in the morning on the same day as before.
But somehow, the events of the repeating days stay with him, and this time he starts the day off with a trip to the ER, because he's bleeding from what appears to be a bullet wound. The episode ends with him getting away from the cops at the hospital in the middle of the third repeat of the day.
I like most of the actors, which include Skinner from the X-files and Jane from Firefly. I should know who the partner is too, but I just can't think from where at the moment.
So did anybody else watch this show?
2 comments
the husband said...
Yes, it is an interesting show. We have several bodies a day turning up and it seems that Our Hero will be hard pressed to set up the day in such way that he saves all of them. Of course, not all of them are worth saving.
how many blogs do you need, dear?
Laughingattheslut said...
Isn't that sweet. He called me dear.
Well, I thought since I was just going to have a regular blog that I'd start a different one without a name that puts off regular people who don't know about it already.
And then I thought that I'd have this one for just sci-fi and related stuff, and then I'd have the other one for the mundanes to read. See?
I don't think many of my readers watched the show, so I thought I'd post it on the weekend when most of your aren't reading anyway. Probably you'd be more interested in the previous post about drunks.
But, just in case, here it is. And I've included the two comments from the other blog.
(the following was originally posted on another blog on November 18th)
I thought Wednesday night's Daybreak was an excellent two hours of television.
Unfortunately, the other people I would normally discuss such things with somehow managed to miss the show.
I can't understand why they didn't watch it. It was great. Similar in some ways to Groundhog Day, the equally amusing Stargate episode Windows of Opportunity, and the more serious but lesser known 12:01 (which I am told is quite different from the 12:01 short story, in which the main character keeps repeating the same hour); it was a time loop story, in which the day keep repeating itself and only the main character knows it.
In the first two hours of the series, the main character goes through the original day and three repeats. In the original day he saves a dumb pedestrian, gets framed for murder, finds out his brother-in-law is beating his sister, gets set up by his partner, gets arrested, watches his girlfriend and alibi get killed, is told that he will have to confess to the murder he's accused of if he doesn't want his family similarly killed, is beaten by thugs, and is then sedated. The first repeat of the day is very similar, except that he doesn't save the pedestrian, he tries to warn a few people about what is going to happen but they don't believe him, and he pushes his wife-beating brother-in-law into a glass display case. The third time around he doesn't bother with much of anything except trying to get out of town with his girlfriend, which doesn't go as planned, and the bad guys follow and shoot at them. He gets wounded in the shoulder, and there's blood everywhere, but luckily his girlfriend is an ER nurse and she patches him up. The cops catch up to them at a motel, and his partner seems like she is setting him up again, but this time she is obviously just there to try and help him, which then gets her killed. He and his girlfriend get away, and he drives all night.
And somehow is back in his bed about six in the morning on the same day as before.
But somehow, the events of the repeating days stay with him, and this time he starts the day off with a trip to the ER, because he's bleeding from what appears to be a bullet wound. The episode ends with him getting away from the cops at the hospital in the middle of the third repeat of the day.
I like most of the actors, which include Skinner from the X-files and Jane from Firefly. I should know who the partner is too, but I just can't think from where at the moment.
So did anybody else watch this show?
2 comments
the husband said...
Yes, it is an interesting show. We have several bodies a day turning up and it seems that Our Hero will be hard pressed to set up the day in such way that he saves all of them. Of course, not all of them are worth saving.
how many blogs do you need, dear?
Laughingattheslut said...
Isn't that sweet. He called me dear.
Well, I thought since I was just going to have a regular blog that I'd start a different one without a name that puts off regular people who don't know about it already.
And then I thought that I'd have this one for just sci-fi and related stuff, and then I'd have the other one for the mundanes to read. See?
I do not have much experience with drunks
I have very little experience with people drinking at all. I don't put up with much of it. If you have like one drink, and I think that we are going to stay wherever we are long enough that it will wear off before we leave, I probably won't say anything. If you order another drink, I'm probably going to ask if you are driving. That is, I'm going to ask if you are driving if you didn't already volunteer that information after that look I gave you. If you order another one after that, I'm probably done talking to you anyway.
But I rarely have that much of a problem even at the New Year's Eve party or the Halloween party. And those last hours and hours, so possibly even three drinks would wear off.
I'm sorry if you think you need a few drinks to loosen up a bit. I'm sorry that you can't do a bit of the When Harry met Sally restaurant scene sober. Have you tried? I have.
I used to not be so strict. I still didn't drink, but I didn't bother other people much about the alcohol, if they planned ahead of time. I had a friend whose mother would let all the kids come to the house and drink, but if they had more than one drink they had to check with her before they left, and it was just assumed that most of them would be spending the night anyway. I used to think this was a great idea. I still think that this is a better idea than to just start drinking without a plan, but I am now very much in a just say no phase.
So I used to go to this girl's house, but I didn't drink. After a few times, she asked me not to come anymore. My good influence was rubbing off on other people or something, cause they stopped drinking too, and she didn't want to drink by herself.
Anyway, I've only had a few experiences with actual drunk people. Once was a drunk guy that hit my truck. Luckily, no one was in the truck at the time. The guy came in the store and said that he thought he had put a little dent in my door. The little dent was so big that it made it impossible to open the door. The cops came, found an a guy that was clearly driving drunk, which is illegal, and driving without insurance, which is illegal, and couldn't get anymore insurance because everyone knew that he was a drunk. And nothing happened to him. The cops did not arrest him or take his license or anything. He hit a parked vehicle, but since we were in a parking lot on private property, he did not even get a ticket. Weird.
Another time I had to deal with a drunk person was during a college field trip to Galveston Island. Some of the kids were going to camp on the beach, but I wasn't feeling well and needed my sleep. Four of us were supposed to go in together and rent a room for the weekend. The fourth girl had to cancel before we'd even reserved the room. The other two girls I did not know very well, but they seemed nice enough. They hated the field trip and left that first morning. That left me with the bill for a very expensive room all by myself. But I wasn't feeling well, so I kept the room rather than try to sleep on the beach.
At about two in the morning on the second night, I woke up after hearing someone pound on the door. I opened the door to find six of my classmates, a few of them soaking wet, and one of them with a very big smile and wide eyes.
"Can we use your shower?"
Since I have just been woken up at 2am, I am not yet awake enough to manage to say "What the f***?" or anything else that might have been appropriate. I guy that I thought was pretty nice stepped into the room to talk to me while two other girls dragged the smiling one into the shower. She was having a really bad time, over some problem that was none of my business, and she wouldn't talk about it. Her friends decided that enough was enough, and they got her drunk so that she would tell what was going on. After that there was a bit more drinking, and the girl took a walk into the ocean. A couple of them went after her, and now they needed a shower. And I was the only one they knew who still had a room at the motel.
I still had a room at the motel because I was sick and needed my sleep. Take out your wallet and get your own room. But I didn't actually say that, and the guy got me to calm down. We waited for the three girls to come out of the shower. While we were talking. A fourth girl decided that as long as there was a free shower, she might as well have one too. She didn't ask or anything, and everyone had to wait on her. The guy I was talking to was the only one who even apologized, and no one even offered to pay for some of the room or buy me breakfast the next day or anything.
Back to the girl having people over to drink at her mom's house.
All the kids had a beer, but when they heard me say that I didn't drink, that's about all that most of them had. That is, almost all of the kids had a beer. I declined, and so did this guy I liked. I assumed that he declined to impress me.
The guy I liked was not my usual type. He was good looking and sort of looked like Tom Cruise. The thing was that he knew he sort of looked like Tom Cruise. He would even go up to people and ask if they thought he looked like Tom Cruise.
So I should think that it was very obvious to everyone that I was here mainly because I was interested in Tom Cruise guy. This guy said he liked me too, but we were not in relationship. Okay, whatever. But he does kiss good, and I'm hoping for some alone time later.
Going to this girl's house and watching people drink was not actually my plan for the evening, even with Tom Cruise guy. My plan for the evening was trying on shoes, and they were dress shoes, so I was wearing a dress. A Sunday dress, not a go out with my friends who are going to drink kind of dress. Everyone else is in jeans. I just happened to run into Tom Cruise guy and some of the others at the mall and got invited over. So I look way out of place.
Across the room from me is a blond scruffy-looking guy. He just always seems to be looking at me. Well, maybe he is just wondering why the hell am I wearing a Sunday dress. And I'm sitting with Tom Cruise guy, so I don't really think much of it.
A bit later the girl come over and says something not to subtle about needing me in the kitchen.
So she tells me that scruffy guy is into me.
Really? Cause he hasn't said two words to me.
Well, he said that you have sexy feet.
Sexy feet? There are a few people who like the way I look. I have my fans. I have been called sexy. But sexy feet. No. I do not have sexy feet.
He actually said that? Sexy feet?
Yes. What are you going to do?
Do? I'm not going to do anything. And can't he tell that I came here to be with someone else?
You mean you're not interested?
In the scruffy guy? I can't even tell if he's good looking under all that hair. (It was the eighties.) And he hasn't talked to me or anything. I am just supposed to to be really impressed with this guy?
Most of the girls at school are. He's slept with a lot of them.
Have you slept with him?
No. I'm not into him.
Well, I'm not either.
The Tom Cruise guy was not as much fun here as he had been at the mall. He was all glad to see me at the mall, but now he was all quiet. I know we are not in a relationship, but I don't see why he doesn't want to talk or go outside with me or anything. After a while I give up.
Which gives the scruffy guy a chance to talk to me.
Okay, so there were some pretty blue eyes hiding under that hair. He might clean up nice, but I don't think he bothered with that very often. I didn't want to be rude at my friend's house, so I talked to him.
It was just dumb chit-chat that you could have with anyone. He did not have anything impressive to say. He wasn't a trekkie. He didn't read a lot.
I don't remember if he was in a band or anything like that to explain his appearance.
And I didn't see any reason that anyone would be impressed with him, other than the eyes and that the rest of his appearance might really be something after say, a haircut. And knowing that a bunch of other girls had slept with him was a turnoff for me. And the idea that I was just really supposed to be impressed with that was even more of a turnoff. I didn't see that we had anything to talk about, and I'm not really sure why we were talking at all.
I think maybe he'd had a few before I got there.
And I think maybe he'd never seen a girl in a Sunday dress before.
What was really bothering me was that Tom Cruise guy never came to rescue me. I thought he was into me. I thought that he wasn't drinking to impress me. I gave up and went home.
Me and the Tom Cruise guy were kind of on and off for a while. It just wasn't going to work out. It's a whole long story how I ever was interested in him in the first place, which I will not get into right now. But we were both friends with this girl, so I still saw him once in a while, and she would tell me stuff about him.
Tom Cruise guy did not decline the beer to impress me. Apparently he had a problem. My personal belief is that anyone who drinks has a problem, but this guy had a serious problem. If he starts drinking, he doesn't stop.
At another one of these things at my friend's house, Tom Cruise guy had a few drinks. And he had a few more drinks. He didn't have a car anyway, so no one said anything. He had a few more drinks.
At some point during the evening he was seriously after my friend. My friend was in a long term relationship, and everyone knew that she was off limits. She did not give me all of the details, but at the time she was really not happy about it. Her boyfriend came and rescued her. Tom Cruise guy woke up the next day in a neighbor's lawn, missing his shoes, and having no idea how he got there or that he had done anything to my friend. He really remembered very little of the evening.
He did a lot of apologizing and such. After about a month or so, everyone was friends again. He was at the house one day, and he had a drink, and then he had a few more drinks, and then he had a few more drinks.
After that it was about the same as the other time, except that this time he wasn't after my friend. He was seriously after my friend's boyfriend.
Tom Cruise guy woke up in a neighbor's lawn without his shoes. He had no idea how he got there, and he remembered very little about the evening.
We didn't see much of Tom Cruise guy after that.
But I rarely have that much of a problem even at the New Year's Eve party or the Halloween party. And those last hours and hours, so possibly even three drinks would wear off.
I'm sorry if you think you need a few drinks to loosen up a bit. I'm sorry that you can't do a bit of the When Harry met Sally restaurant scene sober. Have you tried? I have.
I used to not be so strict. I still didn't drink, but I didn't bother other people much about the alcohol, if they planned ahead of time. I had a friend whose mother would let all the kids come to the house and drink, but if they had more than one drink they had to check with her before they left, and it was just assumed that most of them would be spending the night anyway. I used to think this was a great idea. I still think that this is a better idea than to just start drinking without a plan, but I am now very much in a just say no phase.
So I used to go to this girl's house, but I didn't drink. After a few times, she asked me not to come anymore. My good influence was rubbing off on other people or something, cause they stopped drinking too, and she didn't want to drink by herself.
Anyway, I've only had a few experiences with actual drunk people. Once was a drunk guy that hit my truck. Luckily, no one was in the truck at the time. The guy came in the store and said that he thought he had put a little dent in my door. The little dent was so big that it made it impossible to open the door. The cops came, found an a guy that was clearly driving drunk, which is illegal, and driving without insurance, which is illegal, and couldn't get anymore insurance because everyone knew that he was a drunk. And nothing happened to him. The cops did not arrest him or take his license or anything. He hit a parked vehicle, but since we were in a parking lot on private property, he did not even get a ticket. Weird.
Another time I had to deal with a drunk person was during a college field trip to Galveston Island. Some of the kids were going to camp on the beach, but I wasn't feeling well and needed my sleep. Four of us were supposed to go in together and rent a room for the weekend. The fourth girl had to cancel before we'd even reserved the room. The other two girls I did not know very well, but they seemed nice enough. They hated the field trip and left that first morning. That left me with the bill for a very expensive room all by myself. But I wasn't feeling well, so I kept the room rather than try to sleep on the beach.
At about two in the morning on the second night, I woke up after hearing someone pound on the door. I opened the door to find six of my classmates, a few of them soaking wet, and one of them with a very big smile and wide eyes.
"Can we use your shower?"
Since I have just been woken up at 2am, I am not yet awake enough to manage to say "What the f***?" or anything else that might have been appropriate. I guy that I thought was pretty nice stepped into the room to talk to me while two other girls dragged the smiling one into the shower. She was having a really bad time, over some problem that was none of my business, and she wouldn't talk about it. Her friends decided that enough was enough, and they got her drunk so that she would tell what was going on. After that there was a bit more drinking, and the girl took a walk into the ocean. A couple of them went after her, and now they needed a shower. And I was the only one they knew who still had a room at the motel.
I still had a room at the motel because I was sick and needed my sleep. Take out your wallet and get your own room. But I didn't actually say that, and the guy got me to calm down. We waited for the three girls to come out of the shower. While we were talking. A fourth girl decided that as long as there was a free shower, she might as well have one too. She didn't ask or anything, and everyone had to wait on her. The guy I was talking to was the only one who even apologized, and no one even offered to pay for some of the room or buy me breakfast the next day or anything.
Back to the girl having people over to drink at her mom's house.
All the kids had a beer, but when they heard me say that I didn't drink, that's about all that most of them had. That is, almost all of the kids had a beer. I declined, and so did this guy I liked. I assumed that he declined to impress me.
The guy I liked was not my usual type. He was good looking and sort of looked like Tom Cruise. The thing was that he knew he sort of looked like Tom Cruise. He would even go up to people and ask if they thought he looked like Tom Cruise.
So I should think that it was very obvious to everyone that I was here mainly because I was interested in Tom Cruise guy. This guy said he liked me too, but we were not in relationship. Okay, whatever. But he does kiss good, and I'm hoping for some alone time later.
Going to this girl's house and watching people drink was not actually my plan for the evening, even with Tom Cruise guy. My plan for the evening was trying on shoes, and they were dress shoes, so I was wearing a dress. A Sunday dress, not a go out with my friends who are going to drink kind of dress. Everyone else is in jeans. I just happened to run into Tom Cruise guy and some of the others at the mall and got invited over. So I look way out of place.
Across the room from me is a blond scruffy-looking guy. He just always seems to be looking at me. Well, maybe he is just wondering why the hell am I wearing a Sunday dress. And I'm sitting with Tom Cruise guy, so I don't really think much of it.
A bit later the girl come over and says something not to subtle about needing me in the kitchen.
So she tells me that scruffy guy is into me.
Really? Cause he hasn't said two words to me.
Well, he said that you have sexy feet.
Sexy feet? There are a few people who like the way I look. I have my fans. I have been called sexy. But sexy feet. No. I do not have sexy feet.
He actually said that? Sexy feet?
Yes. What are you going to do?
Do? I'm not going to do anything. And can't he tell that I came here to be with someone else?
You mean you're not interested?
In the scruffy guy? I can't even tell if he's good looking under all that hair. (It was the eighties.) And he hasn't talked to me or anything. I am just supposed to to be really impressed with this guy?
Most of the girls at school are. He's slept with a lot of them.
Have you slept with him?
No. I'm not into him.
Well, I'm not either.
The Tom Cruise guy was not as much fun here as he had been at the mall. He was all glad to see me at the mall, but now he was all quiet. I know we are not in a relationship, but I don't see why he doesn't want to talk or go outside with me or anything. After a while I give up.
Which gives the scruffy guy a chance to talk to me.
Okay, so there were some pretty blue eyes hiding under that hair. He might clean up nice, but I don't think he bothered with that very often. I didn't want to be rude at my friend's house, so I talked to him.
It was just dumb chit-chat that you could have with anyone. He did not have anything impressive to say. He wasn't a trekkie. He didn't read a lot.
I don't remember if he was in a band or anything like that to explain his appearance.
And I didn't see any reason that anyone would be impressed with him, other than the eyes and that the rest of his appearance might really be something after say, a haircut. And knowing that a bunch of other girls had slept with him was a turnoff for me. And the idea that I was just really supposed to be impressed with that was even more of a turnoff. I didn't see that we had anything to talk about, and I'm not really sure why we were talking at all.
I think maybe he'd had a few before I got there.
And I think maybe he'd never seen a girl in a Sunday dress before.
What was really bothering me was that Tom Cruise guy never came to rescue me. I thought he was into me. I thought that he wasn't drinking to impress me. I gave up and went home.
Me and the Tom Cruise guy were kind of on and off for a while. It just wasn't going to work out. It's a whole long story how I ever was interested in him in the first place, which I will not get into right now. But we were both friends with this girl, so I still saw him once in a while, and she would tell me stuff about him.
Tom Cruise guy did not decline the beer to impress me. Apparently he had a problem. My personal belief is that anyone who drinks has a problem, but this guy had a serious problem. If he starts drinking, he doesn't stop.
At another one of these things at my friend's house, Tom Cruise guy had a few drinks. And he had a few more drinks. He didn't have a car anyway, so no one said anything. He had a few more drinks.
At some point during the evening he was seriously after my friend. My friend was in a long term relationship, and everyone knew that she was off limits. She did not give me all of the details, but at the time she was really not happy about it. Her boyfriend came and rescued her. Tom Cruise guy woke up the next day in a neighbor's lawn, missing his shoes, and having no idea how he got there or that he had done anything to my friend. He really remembered very little of the evening.
He did a lot of apologizing and such. After about a month or so, everyone was friends again. He was at the house one day, and he had a drink, and then he had a few more drinks, and then he had a few more drinks.
After that it was about the same as the other time, except that this time he wasn't after my friend. He was seriously after my friend's boyfriend.
Tom Cruise guy woke up in a neighbor's lawn without his shoes. He had no idea how he got there, and he remembered very little about the evening.
We didn't see much of Tom Cruise guy after that.
Friday, March 30, 2007
Not doing much again
Okay, so either no one has read my last post yet, or everyone has read it and they're just too polite to leave any "What the f***?" kind of comments.
I have no car today. The mechanic finally called back with a thousand dollar estimate. That was about three times what I was expecting, and I was really hoping it just needed a new hose or something and would be less. Anyway, I don't even have a thousand dollars at the moment, so they are just going to do half of the repairs at the moment, so I can get an inspection sticker, and I'll have to bring the car back later after I get another five hundred dollars.
So I am stuck at home for the day. And it is too wet outside to garden, so I thought this would be the day that I finally get some housework done. But I feel a bit sick. Usually, I take a common over the counter medication, and I feel better in an hour or so. The last time I took this medication was during the spring break trip, and I can't find any here, so I must have left them packed with the stuff that my husband took with him this week. So I should go to the drugstore and get some more.
Did I mention that I don't have a car today?
Plan B is to eat half a bag of cookies and hope for the best.
Today I have advice for people trying to cook a fried egg and a side of of spaghetti. Fry the egg first and then make the spaghetti. Somehow it is less messy than doing it the other way round.
And why would anyone want to cook a fried egg with a side of spaghetti?
I may have this plan to take over the world, but I do not have the answer for everything.
I have no car today. The mechanic finally called back with a thousand dollar estimate. That was about three times what I was expecting, and I was really hoping it just needed a new hose or something and would be less. Anyway, I don't even have a thousand dollars at the moment, so they are just going to do half of the repairs at the moment, so I can get an inspection sticker, and I'll have to bring the car back later after I get another five hundred dollars.
So I am stuck at home for the day. And it is too wet outside to garden, so I thought this would be the day that I finally get some housework done. But I feel a bit sick. Usually, I take a common over the counter medication, and I feel better in an hour or so. The last time I took this medication was during the spring break trip, and I can't find any here, so I must have left them packed with the stuff that my husband took with him this week. So I should go to the drugstore and get some more.
Did I mention that I don't have a car today?
Plan B is to eat half a bag of cookies and hope for the best.
Today I have advice for people trying to cook a fried egg and a side of of spaghetti. Fry the egg first and then make the spaghetti. Somehow it is less messy than doing it the other way round.
And why would anyone want to cook a fried egg with a side of spaghetti?
I may have this plan to take over the world, but I do not have the answer for everything.
Thursday, March 29, 2007
When I take over the world, everyone will be a single parent
This one was originally in another blog. A funny thing about that is that on the other blog the title was too long for the whole title to be listed on the previous blogs. So it said that When I take over the world, everyone will be a sin....
So, hopefully, when I take over the world, everyone will get the title right and not be a sin.
Another thing is that I happened to write it on what would have been my dad's 65th birthday.
But never mind. Read on. And I have included the two comments from the original post
(the following was originally posted in another blog on Febuary 9th)
I was going to start a new blog to talk about how I would fix things if I had a magic wand. But I have several blogs already, and I've hardly used this one at all. So I'll just make the when I take over the world stuff a section of this blog.
I wasn't sure which of the take over the world posts to start with. Recently I read someone else's blog, and she was talking about being a single mom. So I guess I'll start with that.
Every once in a while, I hear that someone has a plan to pay people to volunteer for a sterilization procedure. A mathematical formula would determine how much of a potential financial drain your future children would have on society. If you agreed to be sterilized instead of having these children, the government would pay you a percentage of the estimated tax money saved.
Sounds great to me. I don't want any kids anyway. If someone offered me a free and safe permanent method of birth-control, I'd probably take it. If someone offered pay me to do it...wow.
Of course, I like to think that my high I.Q. would prevent me from being paid much money. On the other hand, my low personal income would also be factored in, and the two would probably cancel each other out. But if I'm offered any amount of money before I'm too old to have children, I'm going to take it.
Not that it will ever happen. I like the idea, but everyone else seems to hate it. And I really don't get most of the arguments. Like a bunch of poor people will go and have the procedure, or a bunch of black people will go have the procedure. So what? What if a bunch of poor black people willingly go have a sterilization procedure done and get paid for it. A bunch of other poor black people won't go and have the procedure. That would forever put an end to the discussions about welfare moms cranking out babies to get more money. If some people were really doing that sort of thing, and you offered them something like this instead, wouldn't they take the easy money up front?
Several years ago I read a book, and I can't remember the name of the book, or even who wrote it. It was a woman, I remember that much, so I want to say it was by Anne McCaffrey or Vonda McIntyre, because that was who I was reading at the time. Anyway, in this book all the people were legally allowed custody of one child. Period. But they had sole custody. There were no custody fights and arguments about visitation or how someone thought their child's other parent wasn't raising the child right. You have custody of one child, and everyone else back off, including the child's other biological parent.
Wouldn't that just solve all kinds of problems? Custody of children is decided before they are even conceived. If a couple gets a divorce, there is no custody battle. If the custodial parent wants to pick up and move to Alaska, that's okay. There is no arguing about how much child support the non-custodial parent will have to pay, because there is no such thing as child support. If you can't afford to take care of a child yourself, don't have one. You and you alone are responsible for that one child.
Which is not to say that you couldn't have custody of one child and live with someone who has custody of another child. You could raise them together, share living expenses and all of that. For that matter, you could live with ten other people who have custody of ten other children, and raise them all together and share living expenses and all of that. But it would be very clear who had custody of a particular child, and who had the final word on all things concerning that child.
There were a lot of things in the book that would probably never work in America. In the book the custodial parent paid the other biological parent for creating the child. In general, women were paid more than men per child. On the other hand, in an individual's lifetime, a man could father many more children than a woman would be able to have. In the book, the main character's custodial parent was paid to be the biological father of over three hundred children, but he still owed money to the biological mother of the child he had custody of. Paying someone to have sex with you, even for the purpose of creating a child, is still prostitution. And it might seem too much like babies for sell. We don't buy and sell people anymore.
There are other things that did not happen in this book that I would also think about. If you have bad genes, besides paying someone of the opposite sex to help you create a child, couldn't you also hire someone of the same sex for the same purpose, so that the resulting child would not have your bad genes. And since I don't want any children anyway, could I sell my legal right to have custody of one child to someone who would like to raise more than one child?
A lot of things will be different after I take over the world.
2 comments:
a friend said...
Concerning high IQ vs low income: I don't think Einstein was ever rolling in the dough, and who really wants to see the Donald Trump or Paris Hilton genes propagated! In other words, the high IQ probably matters, but the level of personal income really might not matter much.
Concerning the author: Did you read Ursula Le Guin? She liked to deal with similar issues, as I recall. The only McCaffrey's I read were "light" and never got into such serious issues. I only read one McIntyre ("Star Trek II")
What was done in the book if a parent happened to be a very bad parent who should not have custody at all? Or did they ever go into such things?
"There were a lot of things in the book that would probably never work in America."
You'd have the opposition from Catholics and others who want larger and larger families.
"Paying someone to have sex with you, even for the purpose of creating a child, is still prostitution."
Actually, this is legal in many countries, and in a small part of the US. If you make insemination artificial, this gets rid of any of this concern if it is necessary to get rid of such a concern. Then it takes us one step toward "Logan's Run" by disconnecting sex with procreation.
Concerning bad genes: Yes, some people have very bad genes. The problem right now is that there are a lot of bad genes out there and there is probably no ability to identify them and screen everyone readily. This is changing, however. The advances in genetics, even in the past 6 or so years, are rather significant.
"And since I don't want any children anyway, could I sell my legal right to have custody of one child to someone who would like to raise more than one child?"
That would make sense as part of this. However, the same complainers would call this "exploitation".
"A lot of things will be different after I take over the world."
With or without the help of lab rats...
Laughingattheslut said...
The proper question is with or without lab mice, not lab rats.
And I guess it will have to be without, cause I'm sure he'd soon find a way to get rid of me.
No, the level of personal income matters, because the point was to lower the number of children of parents who can't financially take care of them. It's a math problem--spend X amount of money now to convince someone not to have children, or spend several times X amount on the children through welfare, food stamps, unpaid medical bills, etc....
McIntyre wants to cure everything with virus therapy. And I hear that her day job is scientist, so she might actually do it. Once she's cured everything, she'll move on to making people who can fly and people who can live underwater.
The book did not get into such things. The woman in the book had a very loving father, who was a bit upset that he still hadn't been able to meet his financial obligations to the biological mother.
I don't doubt it would be done artificially a lot of the time, but this was not the implication in the book. The man was well liked and had been paid to father over 300 children. It probably wasn't entirely for his high IQ. I did wonder about the phrasing of the contract. If a pregnancy doesn't happen right away, how long do the people have to keep having sex before one of them is allowed to disolve the contract, and is there a fine one of them pays to get out of the contract, etc....
There's always someone complaining about exploitation in this sort of thing, so I don't think it would happen anytime soon. I still think it's a cool idea.
So, hopefully, when I take over the world, everyone will get the title right and not be a sin.
Another thing is that I happened to write it on what would have been my dad's 65th birthday.
But never mind. Read on. And I have included the two comments from the original post
(the following was originally posted in another blog on Febuary 9th)
I was going to start a new blog to talk about how I would fix things if I had a magic wand. But I have several blogs already, and I've hardly used this one at all. So I'll just make the when I take over the world stuff a section of this blog.
I wasn't sure which of the take over the world posts to start with. Recently I read someone else's blog, and she was talking about being a single mom. So I guess I'll start with that.
Every once in a while, I hear that someone has a plan to pay people to volunteer for a sterilization procedure. A mathematical formula would determine how much of a potential financial drain your future children would have on society. If you agreed to be sterilized instead of having these children, the government would pay you a percentage of the estimated tax money saved.
Sounds great to me. I don't want any kids anyway. If someone offered me a free and safe permanent method of birth-control, I'd probably take it. If someone offered pay me to do it...wow.
Of course, I like to think that my high I.Q. would prevent me from being paid much money. On the other hand, my low personal income would also be factored in, and the two would probably cancel each other out. But if I'm offered any amount of money before I'm too old to have children, I'm going to take it.
Not that it will ever happen. I like the idea, but everyone else seems to hate it. And I really don't get most of the arguments. Like a bunch of poor people will go and have the procedure, or a bunch of black people will go have the procedure. So what? What if a bunch of poor black people willingly go have a sterilization procedure done and get paid for it. A bunch of other poor black people won't go and have the procedure. That would forever put an end to the discussions about welfare moms cranking out babies to get more money. If some people were really doing that sort of thing, and you offered them something like this instead, wouldn't they take the easy money up front?
Several years ago I read a book, and I can't remember the name of the book, or even who wrote it. It was a woman, I remember that much, so I want to say it was by Anne McCaffrey or Vonda McIntyre, because that was who I was reading at the time. Anyway, in this book all the people were legally allowed custody of one child. Period. But they had sole custody. There were no custody fights and arguments about visitation or how someone thought their child's other parent wasn't raising the child right. You have custody of one child, and everyone else back off, including the child's other biological parent.
Wouldn't that just solve all kinds of problems? Custody of children is decided before they are even conceived. If a couple gets a divorce, there is no custody battle. If the custodial parent wants to pick up and move to Alaska, that's okay. There is no arguing about how much child support the non-custodial parent will have to pay, because there is no such thing as child support. If you can't afford to take care of a child yourself, don't have one. You and you alone are responsible for that one child.
Which is not to say that you couldn't have custody of one child and live with someone who has custody of another child. You could raise them together, share living expenses and all of that. For that matter, you could live with ten other people who have custody of ten other children, and raise them all together and share living expenses and all of that. But it would be very clear who had custody of a particular child, and who had the final word on all things concerning that child.
There were a lot of things in the book that would probably never work in America. In the book the custodial parent paid the other biological parent for creating the child. In general, women were paid more than men per child. On the other hand, in an individual's lifetime, a man could father many more children than a woman would be able to have. In the book, the main character's custodial parent was paid to be the biological father of over three hundred children, but he still owed money to the biological mother of the child he had custody of. Paying someone to have sex with you, even for the purpose of creating a child, is still prostitution. And it might seem too much like babies for sell. We don't buy and sell people anymore.
There are other things that did not happen in this book that I would also think about. If you have bad genes, besides paying someone of the opposite sex to help you create a child, couldn't you also hire someone of the same sex for the same purpose, so that the resulting child would not have your bad genes. And since I don't want any children anyway, could I sell my legal right to have custody of one child to someone who would like to raise more than one child?
A lot of things will be different after I take over the world.
2 comments:
a friend said...
Concerning high IQ vs low income: I don't think Einstein was ever rolling in the dough, and who really wants to see the Donald Trump or Paris Hilton genes propagated! In other words, the high IQ probably matters, but the level of personal income really might not matter much.
Concerning the author: Did you read Ursula Le Guin? She liked to deal with similar issues, as I recall. The only McCaffrey's I read were "light" and never got into such serious issues. I only read one McIntyre ("Star Trek II")
What was done in the book if a parent happened to be a very bad parent who should not have custody at all? Or did they ever go into such things?
"There were a lot of things in the book that would probably never work in America."
You'd have the opposition from Catholics and others who want larger and larger families.
"Paying someone to have sex with you, even for the purpose of creating a child, is still prostitution."
Actually, this is legal in many countries, and in a small part of the US. If you make insemination artificial, this gets rid of any of this concern if it is necessary to get rid of such a concern. Then it takes us one step toward "Logan's Run" by disconnecting sex with procreation.
Concerning bad genes: Yes, some people have very bad genes. The problem right now is that there are a lot of bad genes out there and there is probably no ability to identify them and screen everyone readily. This is changing, however. The advances in genetics, even in the past 6 or so years, are rather significant.
"And since I don't want any children anyway, could I sell my legal right to have custody of one child to someone who would like to raise more than one child?"
That would make sense as part of this. However, the same complainers would call this "exploitation".
"A lot of things will be different after I take over the world."
With or without the help of lab rats...
Laughingattheslut said...
The proper question is with or without lab mice, not lab rats.
And I guess it will have to be without, cause I'm sure he'd soon find a way to get rid of me.
No, the level of personal income matters, because the point was to lower the number of children of parents who can't financially take care of them. It's a math problem--spend X amount of money now to convince someone not to have children, or spend several times X amount on the children through welfare, food stamps, unpaid medical bills, etc....
McIntyre wants to cure everything with virus therapy. And I hear that her day job is scientist, so she might actually do it. Once she's cured everything, she'll move on to making people who can fly and people who can live underwater.
The book did not get into such things. The woman in the book had a very loving father, who was a bit upset that he still hadn't been able to meet his financial obligations to the biological mother.
I don't doubt it would be done artificially a lot of the time, but this was not the implication in the book. The man was well liked and had been paid to father over 300 children. It probably wasn't entirely for his high IQ. I did wonder about the phrasing of the contract. If a pregnancy doesn't happen right away, how long do the people have to keep having sex before one of them is allowed to disolve the contract, and is there a fine one of them pays to get out of the contract, etc....
There's always someone complaining about exploitation in this sort of thing, so I don't think it would happen anytime soon. I still think it's a cool idea.
Not doing much
Well, I do not have anything particularly interesting to talk about today. I did not have to console a friend after a break-up like Rachel, I did not take an exciting trip like Playtah, and I did not discover the secret to life and the universe and everything is popping bubble-wrap like David.
On the other hand, I have three new readers since spring break, so I should probably write something.
Welcome new readers.
Okay. I think for a while I will alternate the new stuff with the stuff that I'm bringing over from the other blog.
So here is the new stuff. I am waiting to see if I'm going to get some bad news. While I waiting to see if I get some bad news, I am also waiting to see if I get some other bad news. And right now at this very moment, I am waiting for the mechanic to call and tell me how much it is going to cost me to get the car fixed up to get a state inspection sticker.
So pretty much the high points of my week have been watching TV, and today finding out that only four people were in line ahead of me to get a new license plate.
At school the ceramics instructor decided that we were going to put glaze on the white tiles instead of underglaze. And this he tells me right when I'm putting on the underglaze. But that's okay, cause I like my tile and this gives me an excuse to make another one at the school's expense. Still, I need to finish something that actually counts towards my grade soon, and this isn't helping.
The next post will probably be one from the other blog. Today, one of my new readers wrote in her blog about being a mom, so I think I have something that would go with that, though I have totally different opinions on the subject.
On the other hand, I have three new readers since spring break, so I should probably write something.
Welcome new readers.
Okay. I think for a while I will alternate the new stuff with the stuff that I'm bringing over from the other blog.
So here is the new stuff. I am waiting to see if I'm going to get some bad news. While I waiting to see if I get some bad news, I am also waiting to see if I get some other bad news. And right now at this very moment, I am waiting for the mechanic to call and tell me how much it is going to cost me to get the car fixed up to get a state inspection sticker.
So pretty much the high points of my week have been watching TV, and today finding out that only four people were in line ahead of me to get a new license plate.
At school the ceramics instructor decided that we were going to put glaze on the white tiles instead of underglaze. And this he tells me right when I'm putting on the underglaze. But that's okay, cause I like my tile and this gives me an excuse to make another one at the school's expense. Still, I need to finish something that actually counts towards my grade soon, and this isn't helping.
The next post will probably be one from the other blog. Today, one of my new readers wrote in her blog about being a mom, so I think I have something that would go with that, though I have totally different opinions on the subject.
Battlestar Galactica stuff
Most of this post is transferred from another blog. It is stuff about Battlestar Galactica. Most of it doesn't matter now, cause we pretty much learned the identities of the other Cylons on Sunday, but I thought I'd post it anyway.
(the following was originally posted on November 17th)
Carl Lumbly on Battlestar Galactica
Did anybody notice that doctor declared Bulldog was not a Cylon based on the fact that his DNA profile was the same as the one on record from three years ago?
Doesn't really prove that he's not a Cylon, does it?
Not that he is a Cylon. It's very unlikely that he's a Cylon. It's very unlikely that a Cylon spy just happens to be the pilot that got that particular black ops mission. If the Cylons deliberately sent him to get a mission like that, the odds of him actually being chosen for the mission have to be extremely small.
But the DNA profile just proves that he's either the same man that left three years ago, who may or may not have been a Cylon, or that he's one of the copies of the same model Cylon, if he was a Cylon, right?
I didn't see anything to suggest that the story is going to go that way, but when the doc first said that, I'm like--hey, that doesn't prove anything, so why'd he'd say that? Something is up with that. He wouldn't have said that just to being saying that.
But, everyone has not read the same books on writing that I have, so maybe he did say that just to be saying that.
Anybody think that we're descended from the Cylons or Sharron's baby instead of the thirteenth colony or people from the fleet?
(the following was originally posted on January 14th on another blog)
BSG discussion
Not much to say about last week. Except that I went to dinner with some friends, who were swearing a lot because Battlestar Galactica is moving to Sundays.
Then someone made a rude joke about Caprica Six. He said she should have named Caprica Five.
You figure it out.
That was followed by someone deciding what the remaining five Cylons were called.
I'm not going to explain that one either.
(the following was originally posted on another blog on February 26)
BSG joke
My brother loaned me his Space: Above and Beyond dvds.
I think I know why the blond Cylon on the new Battlestar Galactica is number six.
(the following is new material)
And that's all of Battlestar Galactica that we are going to get for the rest of the year. Not just the rest of the season, but the rest of the year. The new episodes won't start for at least nine months, which has led to a lot of swearing and a lot of jokes.
Nine months? Is somebody pregnant?
Well, actresses have gotten pregnant before, and they usually don't stop filming for nine months because of it. They film around the lady, or they hide her behind stuff, or they have her character kidnapped or sent to another country for a few months, or they pretend that she's trapped in a bottle for most of the season. They probably wouldn't stop filming for nine months unless half the cast all got pregnant at the same time.
The popular idea seems to be that something was filmed for the show that they now regret, that doesn't fit in with what they are writing for next season, and if they make us wait long enough we'll forget about whatever it was and not notice the problem.
(the following was originally posted on November 17th)
Carl Lumbly on Battlestar Galactica
Did anybody notice that doctor declared Bulldog was not a Cylon based on the fact that his DNA profile was the same as the one on record from three years ago?
Doesn't really prove that he's not a Cylon, does it?
Not that he is a Cylon. It's very unlikely that he's a Cylon. It's very unlikely that a Cylon spy just happens to be the pilot that got that particular black ops mission. If the Cylons deliberately sent him to get a mission like that, the odds of him actually being chosen for the mission have to be extremely small.
But the DNA profile just proves that he's either the same man that left three years ago, who may or may not have been a Cylon, or that he's one of the copies of the same model Cylon, if he was a Cylon, right?
I didn't see anything to suggest that the story is going to go that way, but when the doc first said that, I'm like--hey, that doesn't prove anything, so why'd he'd say that? Something is up with that. He wouldn't have said that just to being saying that.
But, everyone has not read the same books on writing that I have, so maybe he did say that just to be saying that.
Anybody think that we're descended from the Cylons or Sharron's baby instead of the thirteenth colony or people from the fleet?
(the following was originally posted on January 14th on another blog)
BSG discussion
Not much to say about last week. Except that I went to dinner with some friends, who were swearing a lot because Battlestar Galactica is moving to Sundays.
Then someone made a rude joke about Caprica Six. He said she should have named Caprica Five.
You figure it out.
That was followed by someone deciding what the remaining five Cylons were called.
I'm not going to explain that one either.
(the following was originally posted on another blog on February 26)
BSG joke
My brother loaned me his Space: Above and Beyond dvds.
I think I know why the blond Cylon on the new Battlestar Galactica is number six.
(the following is new material)
And that's all of Battlestar Galactica that we are going to get for the rest of the year. Not just the rest of the season, but the rest of the year. The new episodes won't start for at least nine months, which has led to a lot of swearing and a lot of jokes.
Nine months? Is somebody pregnant?
Well, actresses have gotten pregnant before, and they usually don't stop filming for nine months because of it. They film around the lady, or they hide her behind stuff, or they have her character kidnapped or sent to another country for a few months, or they pretend that she's trapped in a bottle for most of the season. They probably wouldn't stop filming for nine months unless half the cast all got pregnant at the same time.
The popular idea seems to be that something was filmed for the show that they now regret, that doesn't fit in with what they are writing for next season, and if they make us wait long enough we'll forget about whatever it was and not notice the problem.
Wednesday, March 28, 2007
Missing an old blog buddy
(most of this was originally posted on December 14th in another blog)
Cabinboy has not posted anything since September.
I know that it is none of my business. He's a grown man, and it's a free country, and he's allowed to stop blogging any time that he wants to. I just wonder what happened to him, that's all.
It's not like he said he wasn't going to blog anymore. That would be nice, if people would leave a note saying that they're too busy to deal with the blog for the next year or so. But I guess they rarely do that. Just one day he didn't blog for a while, and then his next post was about his dog dying. And then the post about the dog was removed, and then nothing.
His mom hasn't posted anything on her blog since then either.
It's silly to think that anything happened to them. It's silly to be concerned about people I have never even met. I should get over it.
I wonder what happened to Cabinbabe too.
Happy Holidays, wherever you are.
(the following is new material)
Wonder what happened to Elranito?
That's why I originally started writing to many of you. I hit the next blog button and found Elranito. Started reading Anon 1. Starting talking to Rachel. Starting talking to David and some other old guy who reads Heinlein, and one of them (can't remember which) refered to me as "one of Anon's harem."
Anyway, the guy was blogging for about two months. He was debating about whether or not he should move back to Miami. Then something happened to his computer. Then he got a new computer and said how much he loved Sony, and that was the last blog post.
Does anyone know if he moved back to Miami or if he's okay and all of that? Maybe if he moved back to Miami he has such a busy social calender that he no longer has time for blogging. Hope that it is something nice like that, and not that he was killed in a terrible car crash trying to drive on the ice in the great white north.
Cabinboy has not posted anything since September.
I know that it is none of my business. He's a grown man, and it's a free country, and he's allowed to stop blogging any time that he wants to. I just wonder what happened to him, that's all.
It's not like he said he wasn't going to blog anymore. That would be nice, if people would leave a note saying that they're too busy to deal with the blog for the next year or so. But I guess they rarely do that. Just one day he didn't blog for a while, and then his next post was about his dog dying. And then the post about the dog was removed, and then nothing.
His mom hasn't posted anything on her blog since then either.
It's silly to think that anything happened to them. It's silly to be concerned about people I have never even met. I should get over it.
I wonder what happened to Cabinbabe too.
Happy Holidays, wherever you are.
(the following is new material)
Wonder what happened to Elranito?
That's why I originally started writing to many of you. I hit the next blog button and found Elranito. Started reading Anon 1. Starting talking to Rachel. Starting talking to David and some other old guy who reads Heinlein, and one of them (can't remember which) refered to me as "one of Anon's harem."
Anyway, the guy was blogging for about two months. He was debating about whether or not he should move back to Miami. Then something happened to his computer. Then he got a new computer and said how much he loved Sony, and that was the last blog post.
Does anyone know if he moved back to Miami or if he's okay and all of that? Maybe if he moved back to Miami he has such a busy social calender that he no longer has time for blogging. Hope that it is something nice like that, and not that he was killed in a terrible car crash trying to drive on the ice in the great white north.
Thinking of transferring stuff from another blog
First I would like to say hello and welcome to a new reader. I stopped by your blog as well, but didn't really have any interesting comments that applied to anything. Just that I was confused for a moment and thought that Mr. Giggles was a cat. Guess I was reading too fast.
Anyway, over at eclectic spaghetti blog we were nominating ideas for silly holidays. One of them was write your blog like you live in a soap opera day, which is not really a special day thing here, since the blog started because of the little soap opera going on here because of the homewrecking-slut.
So I was thinking that maybe I have done a bit too much whining and such this month. I've decided that I'm going to transfer some of the posts from another blog here. I don't think that anyone reads that blog. So far the only comments I've gotten were from my husband and someone who was already reading this blog.
Originally, I had planned to do just the opposite. I had planned to transfer all the non-Bimbo related stuff to the other blog, where people would not be put off by my name. But since most of my readers are here, and there are fewer posts over there, moving stuff here seems a better idea.
A lot of that stuff at the other blog was written in December. While I don't think it is a problem to buy Christmas presents in March or have Halloween decorations out in April, I just thought I'd mention that the seasonal stuff I wrote about was actually written during the appropriate season.
Okay, on with the show.
Anyway, over at eclectic spaghetti blog we were nominating ideas for silly holidays. One of them was write your blog like you live in a soap opera day, which is not really a special day thing here, since the blog started because of the little soap opera going on here because of the homewrecking-slut.
So I was thinking that maybe I have done a bit too much whining and such this month. I've decided that I'm going to transfer some of the posts from another blog here. I don't think that anyone reads that blog. So far the only comments I've gotten were from my husband and someone who was already reading this blog.
Originally, I had planned to do just the opposite. I had planned to transfer all the non-Bimbo related stuff to the other blog, where people would not be put off by my name. But since most of my readers are here, and there are fewer posts over there, moving stuff here seems a better idea.
A lot of that stuff at the other blog was written in December. While I don't think it is a problem to buy Christmas presents in March or have Halloween decorations out in April, I just thought I'd mention that the seasonal stuff I wrote about was actually written during the appropriate season.
Okay, on with the show.
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